On Cloud Nine
by I.Am.A.Nerfherder
Summary: Funfic. Set after most of the saving-the-world stuff is over. Mostly fun and games, with a few violent or disturbing dreams/scenes. One new character. T for safety. Fax, Ix, Jiggy. Characters are one year older. Perhaps some OOC for everyone. New powers?
1. Only if you eat your vegetables

Disclaimer: I do not own Maximum Ride, any of the characters associated with stated book, or Bambi

**Disclaimer: I do not own **_**Maximum**__**Ride**_**, any of the characters associated with stated book, or Bambi. Nor do I have the rights to any musical artist or other celebrity mentioned in this story.**

I missed Mom's cookies. This thought was the one thought that kept running through my head as we flew across the country. Right now, we were coming back from a short saving-the-world jaunt in Washington (the state, not the DC). We had been doing the usual, camping every night in trees or in parks, eating out of garbage cans, going 48 hours without sleep, etc. Today we had risen with the sun (it sounds romantic, but it is in fact terrible). We had been flying for maybe a half an hour before Angel came up to me.

"Max?"

"Yeah, sweetie?"

"I'm hungry."

Wow. No kidding me. But honey, we just had breakfast. "Can you wait a while? We'll be flying for a couple more hours, but I think there's a town about a half an hour away."

"Where are we going, anyways?" asked Iggy.

"Californ-i-ay!" I said, grinning. Fang raised an eyebrow. I lowered my voice and said, "We can have a nice little vacation after saving the world (partly), right?"

"Guess so," he said.

"Where are we going? Are we going to go to Hollywood? I _so_ want to go to Hollywood. Maybe we can walk on the Walk of the Stars. Is that what it's called? Maybe we'll see Orlando Bloom or even the Taylor Twins again!"

"We can definitely go to Hollywood, Nudge," I said. "But first I want to stay in a hotel."

"Like a nice one? With unlimited hot showers, free soap, soft fluffy white beds, warm blankets, puffy white pillows, shiny brass lamps with linen shades, and even a TV?"

That's my Nudge. "Most definitely."

Fang came up silently next to me. "You know your MaxRide card probably isn't limitless."

I hate it when he's right. "I hate it when you're right. But can't we have a nice hotel stay after saving the world?"

"Probably not 5-star."

"_No_, ya think?"

"But they'll need to think we have an adult with us. Or at least an over-eighteen."

"Says who?"

"You don't like Angel using her mind controlling powers. So they have to think we have adult supervision."

"I hate it when you're logical like that. Okay, so how are we going to pull that off?"

"You'll see. Dinner soon." He ducked away, flying back to the back.

Angel darted up to me. "Fang has a plan, and I don't think you're going to like it."

"Why not?"

"Because…" she started to giggle.

I looked back and saw Fang giving Angel the dagger glare. "Here," I said, before anything else could be conspired against me. "You guys pick a place and fight it out. We'll land in the back and walk around to the front."

"There!" Gazzy pointed with glee.

"That's not a Garden Tavern type place, is it?" I asked with a feeling of ominous dread and imminent gloom. I shuddered at the memory of us placing our orders and waiting… and waiting…and waiting until the manager came out and essentially told us we couldn't have our food. Then police started coming in and we had to break through the ceiling and break our cover.

"No, silly," laughed Angel. "It's a Golden Great Wall Tiger Cottage China Dragon Buffet place."

I stifled a snort of laughter at the name. Nudge, on the other hand, gasped. "I am like, _so_ there."

"Is it good?" asked Iggy.

Fang looked at me with those dark eyes…

"Max? Please?" begged Angel.

"Don't make us bring out the Bambi eyes," said Nudge.

"Okay, sure. Just promise me you won't get thrown out by the manager."

It was too late. They were all spiraling down, even Fang. Man, he must be hungry. I followed them in and paid, biting back a smile at their 'innocent' faces. Considering our 3000 calorie per day minimum, this was a great deal. I followed our hostess to a table and set my backpack under my chair. "Let's eat!"

They all grabbed plates and left, except Fang. I looked up at the familiar prickling on the back of my neck. He was standing right behind me, his eyes dark and unreadable as always.

"Are you all right?" he asked quietly, almost tenderly.

I dropped my head into my hands. "I miss Mom and her cookies," I said. "But other than that, I'm just tired."

His hand brushed the back of my neck, smoothing all the stray hair off to the side. "Now that we've saved the world a couple of times, can't we find a home? A permanent home that we can return to? Maybe even a permanent, damage-proof home that we're _sure_ to be able to return to?"

I looked up at him. Our eyes met, and for one brief moment, I felt like the world had gone away.

"Maybe you could change your mind now?"

I paused, remembering our not-so-brief kiss and my flight (literally!) from that scene. "Can we talk later? The kids and Iggy are coming back."

Fang nodded, his face returning to calm-and-unaffected. Then he walked off to get his own food. I just sat there. My stomach was churning with nerves. Later, we were probably going to have a long 'discussion,' and I would lose my Max-mind (was there any left?) and, of course, my famous silver-tongued rapier wit,

"Max, aren't you gonna eat?" asked Angel.

"No, sweetie, I'm not hungry."

"Please, Max. They have Chinese doughnut. They're greasy and fried and dipped in sugar and oh god that's so good…" said Nudge, her eyes closing in decadent bliss.

"But only if you eat your vegetables," said Gazzy, whose face was perfectly straight.

Angel giggled at something and whispered to Nudge. Fang was staring hard at Angel. Then he rolled his eyes, turned to face me, and forced a piece of Szechwan chicken into my mouth. I gagged and then swallowed, glaring at Fang.

He shrugged. "You weren't eating."

I rolled my eyes at him and went to get some food. I was surprised to find that I was hungry, and I piled my plate high. On top, I placed the crowning glory: the Chinese donut. It glistened invitingly as I walked back to our table. I sat down and started eating… and eating… and once I started, I couldn't stop. After my fourth plate, I slowed down.

"Max done yet?" Iggy asked. "I want to find out what Fang's plan is."

I stopped halfway to biting into my last Chinese donut. "Nooo…" I moaned. "My donut…must have donut."

As I relished the last bites of donut and licked my sugar-coated fingers one by one, I felt the flock, minus Iggy, watching me eat. They were eager to go find out what Fang had in store for me. Finally, I stood up. We paid, walked out the door, and congregated on the sidewalk in the dark.

"So. Iggy, you're in charge for now. Go over to the Sleep Inn and say you're waiting for your family. Don't let them see Total unless he's allowed as a guide dog. Max and Fang are going on a little adventure. I promise it'll be good when we get back."

He grabbed my arm and marched me away down the street. I caught a burst of giggles from Angel and Nudge, and I rolled my eyes.


	2. A Sudden Obsession with Fashion

"Where, exactly, are you taking me

**Disclaimer: I do not own **_**Maximum**__**Ride**_**, or any of the characters therein. **

"Where, exactly, are you taking me?" I asked, as caustically as I could. He flashed a rare wicked smile and pulled me into a hair salon, where they promptly asked me what I wanted. I sighed, pointed at Fang and said, "Whatever he wants. I lost a bet."

Fang smiled sweetly. "Whatever you feel like, dude," he said, addressing the (obviously gay) hairdresser. "Preferably, really grown-up looking. But keep her pretty. And I like her pink streaks, so leave those, maybe add some blue."

An hour later, I left, my hair totally cool and streaked with white-blond, pink, and blue. It bounced around my head, feeling extremely light. The gay guy had also done my makeup, so I now looked about 20. He had given it free to Fang, on whom he had been hitting… so now Fang had given me mascara, foundation, eyeliner, lipstick, lip gloss, eyeshadow, and blush. Not only that, but we were now entering a secondhand shop. He pulled me by the hand over to the ladies' and browsed around. He handed me stacks and stacks of clothing, until my arms were full to their limits with clothes.

"Are we done yet?" I begged.

"Nope," he replied cheerfully. He headed off to the shoe racks, where he muttered to himself and pulled pairs off here and there. Then- I saw _them_. I grabbed them up and slid my foot into one. I laced it all the way up to my thighs. Then I did the other one. Fang was so engrossed in his new and sudden and uncharacteristic interest in cute shoes that he hadn't noticed.

"Hey Fang," I said. "How's this? Does it work on me?"

He slowly straightened up, his eyed widening. His gave traveled from my high heels slowly up the bottom of the boots, then my thighs, then finally his eyes slid over my chest and met mine. "Yeah. Looks pretty good."

Coming from Fang, that's a lot. He shook his head briefly. "C'mon. Let's get those off of you and get you to the dressing room to try some of this stuff on."

I started loosening the laces of one boot. Suddenly a warm hand slipped around my leg. Fang was untying the other one. "Hurry," he said. "The others are waiting."

The boots finally came off. I went to put them back, but Fang grabbed them. "We're getting those. I don't care. We're getting them."

Then we headed off to the dressing room. I tried to lock Fang out, but he came in anyway.

"Put on this, this, this, and this," he said, pushing a miniskirt, pair of leggings, fuzzy boots, and a hoodie with a furry vest.

"Don't look," I threatened, "or I will bleach your eyes out."

"I wasn't planning on it."

I stripped down to my bra and bikini-style panties. Then I layered back up.

"Good," he said when I turned around. "Now do this, this, those, these, that, and these."

I put on, per Fang's order, a red tank top, a black tank top, a pair of black leather arm guards, a sexy black leather jacket, tight but shaped well enough to conceal my wings. Then I pulled on a pair of red lace tights and THE BOOTS.

Fang nodded. "That's what you'll wear tonight. He pulled out a pair of tight, emo style jeans and put them on. He pulled on the rest of the outfit (a black women's button-down and tight black jacket). Then he opened the door and we went out. We also got clothes for everyone- shorts for everyone, a bunch of various-sized T shirts, and swim gear for all. I got a black bikini (always wanted one _so_ badly). Fang got trunks, black of course, light blue for Iggy (to match his eyes), lime green for Gazzy. I got a purple tankini for Nudge and a pink one piece for Angel.

"I hope we don't traumatize the others… when they see me dressed like a hooker and you dressed as an emo."

"Well, Iggy's the only one that the hooker bit would bother, but he won't see, and they're used to seeing me in black."

We walked in and Angel said, "Ooh, Max! You look really pretty!"

Nudge was describing us as we checked in. Iggy finally stopped her. "I'm sure Angel will show me exact images later."

The guy at the counter raised one eyebrow as I handed over my MaxRide card (which somehow worked as a debit card and a bank card at the same time). "These can't _all_ be yours, can they?"

I laughed. "No, of course not. They're my cousins. We're meeting them here and we're going to take them home with us tomorrow."

"And is he your brother?" asked the manager with a little jerk of the head towards Fang.

"I'm her boyfriend, along for the control of little mutinous freaks." Fang put his arm around me and glared at the manager.

"Okay," said the manager, unperturbed. "Here are three adjoining room keys. Guys, girls, couple. Right?"

"I… Okay," I said.

"Feel free to stop by if you, you know… _need_ anything." I caught his innuendo and blushed.

The flock tromped up the stairs. Angel and Nudge, giggling, took one room key, gave the other room hey to Iggy and Gazzy, and, with fresh giggles, handed the last one to us. To Fang and I. To I and Fang.

Crap.

This was going to be awkward.

I waited until everyone was safely locked away. Angel and Nudge were on one side of us, Gazzy and Iggy on the other. Even though we would probably hear Nudge and Angel giggling all night long and/or the TV in Gazzy and Iggy's room all night, it was safer for the leaders to be in the middle. I slung my backpack off and dropped it on the floor in a corner (so as not to get chunks of dried mud on the pristine white sheets) and then collapsed onto the bed.

The one bed. The one bed in a room too small to sleep on the floor.

Crap.

I looked at Fang. Fang looked back at me impassively.

"Well, I don't _think_ you have cooties. I don't mind sharing." I swallowed nervously after delivering my (not-so-hilarious) line.

Fang shrugged. "I don't mind."

"Okay, then. Now that that's settled, _dibs_ _on_ _first_ _shower_!"


	3. Spectacular

Disclaimer: I do not own Maximum Ride or any of the characters therein

**Disclaimer: I do not own **_**Maximum Ride**_** or any of the characters therein.**

I grabbed my backpack and went into the bathroom to undress and shower. Then I paused. "Faaaaaaang…"

"Mm?"

"Can you come here? I need some help. Taking my clothes off."

I heard him snort. "Coming." His head popped around the corner. Then he came in and helped me sit on the floor. He started unlacing the boots while I worked on the bizarre arm things. After what seemed aa while, he stood up. The bathroom was full of steam.

"Man, you do like 'em hot."

I closed the door on him. The hot shower felt amazingly good on my tired skin. But not as good as cookies.

I finally came out, wrapped in a towel. "Your turn," I said to Fang. "Let me have some privacy to put on decent clothes."

Fang smirked at me and disappeared into a puff of steam.

I pulled on fresh, clean underwear, a warm but tight sweater, and a pair of loose cargo pants. Then I laid back and closed my eyes.

I heard Fang come out of the shower. He came to sit next to me. We need to talk."

"Oh… and you're all about the wordy sharing of feelings."

"Seriously. The kids want a home. I can't say I disagree. Now that we've mostly saved the world, can't we find some place, some safe, permanent place to make a home? We can build it so that it's permanently Eraser-proof, or safe from whatever wants to kill us next."

"That's the most I've ever heard you say." I remembered the last time we had this conversation, and my stomach muscles clenched with nervous anticipation.

"We don't have to run anymore."

I looked up at him. His dark eyes met mine. I blew out a short sigh. "So, _if_ we do this, and that's a hypothetical 'if,' _where_ would our home be? How would we get hold of the land?"

"Somewhere up in the mountains. Like in a state park or something, just far away from all the trails and people."

"But—"

He cut me off. "Why don't you agree? It all works out. Angel can make anyone forget they saw us. Your MaxRide card can take care of everything else."

"You just said my MaxRide card probably isn't limitless. Plus we have my mom's house, and chocolate-chip-cookies."

Fang slipped his fingers under my chin and tilted my face up to his. I felt my heartbeat skyrocket. "Are you sure you want to spend the next several years of your life living with grown-ups and rules?"

His eyes met mine, and as he leaned closer, my heart practically stopped. His lips parted, and I could feel his warm breath on my lips.

Then the door burst open. We whipped around. Angel had stopped short in the doorway, almost causing a pileup. Gazzy's jaw was on the floor. Nudge was, for once, silent. "What's going on?" asked Iggy irritably. Angel turned to him and concentrated, probably giving him a mental image of what was going on.

"Were you _kissing?_" asked Gazzy, like it was an awful crime. Which, to him, it probably was.

Iggy looked irritated. "Can we just go swimming and not obsess over Max and Fang maybe or maybe not exchanging spit?"

I jumped to my feet. "Um, yeah. Hey, Fang got you guys swim stuff. Where'd you put it?"

He stood up and picked up one of the bags. Wordlessly (although that was usual), he handed out the swim gear to everyone. He raised an eyebrow at my swimsuit bottoms. "This all you're wearing?"

Angel whispered something to Nudge, who giggled and said, "Eew!"

I blushed. "Of course not-don't tell me you _lost_ the top, or you'll have to live with me living without it."

Fang's expression, as always, remained the same. But he passed over the top.

"OK, guys. Put this stuff on and then put a T-shirt over it. Make sure it's a really baggy T-shirt."

They all left. "Dibs," said Fang, vanishing into the bathroom, this time without the puff of steam. I stripped, knowing I didn't have much time, and slipped the tiny two-piece on. To my extreme embarrassment, my chest had grown. I stuffed myself into the bra-like contraption.

Barely seconds later, Fang came out. He was wearing his trunks only. I tried not to stare. _Bad Max._ His eyebrows rose.

"Hey Fang, come over here for a second."

He came to stand beside me.

"Tie this around the back of my neck," I commanded.

He emotionlessly obeyed. I got up and rummaged through my backpack for a T-shirt. The door opened again and I looked up. The other four flock members were standing there, with almost the same expressions on their faces.

"You're wearing _that?_" squeaked Nudge.

"What? What's she wearing? Describe it!" said Iggy.

Angel turned to him. I knew she was giving him a mental image of my in my tiny bikini. "No, no! Angel! Don't!"

Too late. Iggy's eyebrows shot up. Fang leaned over next to me. "You know, you're bending over and giving everyone a great view of the world and everything else," he whispered into my ear.

I grabbed the first T-shirt I found, straightened up, turned around (right into Fang!) and pulled it over my head. As I poked my head out, I thought I saw something flit across Fang's face. But then it was gone.

"All right, let's go," I said. We walked out the door and down to the (thankfully) secluded and closed-off pool. The walls were opaque glass, which was perfect for us bird kids. "Angel, you'll take care of anyone if they come in here and see us, right?" I asked. She nodded. We took off our T-shirts to use later as towels and everyone rushed around excitedly.

As Nudge and Gazzy were leading Iggy into the water and giving him landmarks, Angel came trotting up to Fang and me. She tugged on Fang's (black) T-shirt, which he had yet to take off. "Fang?"

He leaned down to her level and picked her up. She whispered something into his ear. He flashed a rare, quick grin and nodded. "But first it's your turn."

She squealed as he picked her up and tossed her into the pool, where her splash drenched Iggy. Fang then turned to me, a wicked glint in his eye.

"Oh, no you done," I gasped, backing away.

Fang slowly advanced, backing me into a corner (out of sight of the Flock!). He put his arms against the wall on either side of me. My silver-tongued rapier wit was quickly vanishing.

"Bite me," I said in a desperate bid for the last remnants of my snappy comebacks.

Fang, not being a typical gentleman, looked into my eyes and smirked. "Okay."

I gasped in shock as he pressed his lips to my neck. He bit me, surprisingly gently. But he wouldn't let go. I wan't to sure what to do with my hands, so I put them on his shoulders.

Then I felt his lips move. He still hadn't let go. His tongue traced little circles on my skin.

My back hit the wall again, and Fang broke away. "Anyways," he said, clearing his throat. I looked at him with wide eyes. He took advantage of my brief absence of mind to pick me up. I started to struggle. He turned around and promptly dropped me.

In front of us stood four dripping-wet bird kids. "That took a while," said Iggy pointedly.

"He _bit_ me!" I whined, little-kid-style. "He bit me, and then he dropped me. My butt hurts."

Nudge giggled. "Were you kissing again?"

Fang coughed. He opened his mouth to reply, but Angel interrupted. "Can I be flower girl?"

"Of course, sweetie…_WHAT?!_"

Iggy snorted. "Well, you can't really marry a human. That would be cross-species grossness, so that leaves Fang. Or me." The last part was quiet, so I wasn't sure if I even heard it.

"Would your babies look like us?" asked Angel innocently.

I was beyond blushing. "Ummm… ask Jeb when we go back."

"Yes, Angel," said Iggy. "Max's babies would have wings, too. It's in our DNA."

Fang picked me up again. "It's not like I don't like this charming conversation, but I have a dunking to finish, if you'll excuse me."

"No, you don't!" I said. "Angel? Help? Nudge? Gazzy? _Anybody?_"

Cold water rushed up to meet me. I came up to the surface in time to hear Iggy say, "What, I'm not allowed to help?"

"No," I gasped. "Your help would have been really welcome."

I was dunked under again by Fang. "What's he doing to her now?" asked Iggy.

I didn't hear the answer, because Fang swam right up to me and over me, taking me with him in his arms.

It was really cool, gliding along the bottom of the pool. Fang held me against him, my wings folded between us, his arms wrapped around me. He used his wings to propel us through the water. Occasionally, we would shoot out of the water for a quick breath of air, and then back in, like a dolphin. I did fear slightly for my bikini, or for the loss of it, but that was overridden by the rush of cool water against my face and the glittering droplets when we broke through the surface.

It was a big pool, with a big deep end. We glided through the water towards it, and then we surged out of the water. Fang's wings pumped hard as we rose into the air, toward the conveniently high ceiling. We hovered there for a moment, the whole flock watching, and then we flipped over and dove straight down into the water. Fang angled his wings so that we twirled the whole way down, spiraling in a burst of sparkling droplets of water.

Fang swooped out of the near the bottom of the pool and we glided along again, leisurely this time, out of the darker blue water and back to the rest of the flock. He let go of me there and we surfaced. I shook the water from my eyes and caught my breath.

Nudge was speechless. Iggy looked sort of sad that he didn't see this spectacular display. Angel and Gazzy watched up with open mouths. "Wow…" breathed Angel. Then she grinned. "I want to try it!" She dove into the water, copying Fang. Of course, she would naturally be better at it, being able to breathe underwater and all, but Fang's dive (with me) had been so amazing, I didn't think anyone could trump that. It was just… wings, bodies, and sparkling water. It was so much better with another person, even better with Fang.


	4. What have you done with the real Fang?

Disclaimer: I do not own Maximum Ride, any of the characters associated with stated book, or Bambi

**Disclaimer: I do not own **_**Maximum**__**Ride**_**, any of the characters associated with stated book, or Bambi. Nor do I have the rights to any musical artist or other celebrity mentioned in this story.**

When we finally returned to our rooms, we stacked and tapped and then I slipped into the bathroom. Fang knocked on the door. "Can I come in and change while you're in the shower? I promise I won't look."

"Okay, fine. Just don't you dare steal my clothes."

"Thanks for the idea."

"Hey!"

"Just kidding."

There was another knock on the door. "Fang? Is that you?" It was unmistakably Iggy.

"Yeah," Fang said.

"Where's Max? Angel wants her to tuck her in."

"She's taking a shower. Another shower. The tenth today."

There was a pause. "Wait… she's taking a shower… and you're in there?"

"Um… it's not quite like that," I called out, turning off the water. "Fang, are you done yet?"

"Yeah, just a second."

I waited patiently. "Are you gone yet?" I asked, freezing. There was no reply. I stuck my head out from behind the shower curtain. They were gone. Nevertheless, I still grabbed a towel and wrapped up behind the curtain. They I came out and changed into my comfortable 'pajamas.'

I tiptoed into the room Angel and Nudge were sharing., Nudge was already asleep. I turned off the TV and came around to Angel's side of the bed.

She blinked sleepily and said with a yawn. "Are you and Fang going to share a bed, too?"

"Yes, sweetie. There's only one bed and the room's too small to sleep on the floor."

Don't have any babies yet," she said innocently. "And don't worry. Fang's not upset by what me and Nudge said."

I hugged her and kissed her forehead. "Sleep well." I backed out of the room and crossed over into Gazzy and Iggy's room. There was a total chaos scene in there. I covered my face.

"Oh, hi, Max." said Gazzy. Is it time to go to bed already?"

"Yep. Hop in." I pulled the blanket up to his chin. Then I looked over at Iggy. His eyes were closed, but he was obviously still awake. "Hey, Iggy, you want me to tuck you in, too?"

He turned his face to me and said, "No, save it all for Fang."

I came around and hit his closed fist with mine, anyways. Then I went back to the room I was staying in with Fang. He was lying on his side, propped up on his elbow. His darkness contrasted sharply and beautifully with the white pillows and blankets.

"So, bird boy," I said, closing the door firmly behind me. "What was that for, earlier?"

"What?" he asked innocently.

I gave him a _you know what_ look. He sighed and patted the bed next to him. "Come here, Max. We have some wordy sharing of feelings to do."

I warily slipped onto the bed next to him. "So you go first."

He laughed, sort of. "Well… the thing is," he said, looking down at the blanket below us. Then he stopped. "I've known you fourteen, almost fifteen years, and I just…don't think…well, I just…"

Then he looked up at me quickly and pressed his lips to mine.

I remembered Jeb's – Dad's – advice, _Go with the flow._ So I did. Several minutes later, Fang pulled away.

"Well… so that's what I was trying to say."

I scooted closer to him and lifted my face to his. "Well, this bird girl has something to say in reply to that."

His arms slipped around me as I kissed him. _So I actually managed to keep some Max-mind and silver-tongued rapier wit._ Actually, it was more like Fang-tongued romance mush. But this was nice. More than nice.

He pulled me closer and rolled over so that he was leaning over me. His hands, no longer occupied with holding me close, started to wander.

"Who are you and what have you done with the real Fang?" I asked.

He pulled back, looking, for once, awkward and embarrassed. "You don't like it?"

I held my arms out to him. "I can't say I _mind_ this Fang…"

He sighed with relief and kissed me again. His hands crept down my body from my face to my waist, where he suddenly tickled me. I started laughing uncontrollably, _really loudly_. He out his hand over my mouth. "Shh!" he said. "We don't want the flock to think we're up to some mischief."

I stifled me laughter. "So is it tie to go to sleep now, Mr. Lover Boy?"

"Mmhmm," he said, rolling off of me.

I fell asleep with my head on his chest.

In the middle of the night, I woke up to Fang trying to keep from laughing.

"What's so funny?"

"Did Angel really say, 'No babies?'"

"Something like that," I said, hiding my face.

He laughed softly. "Go back to sleep, Max."


	5. Oh, dear, not another one

Disclaimer: I do not own MaximumRide or any of the characters, etc

**Disclaimer: I do not own **_**MaximumRide**_** or any of the characters, etc. Nor do I own Waffle House, unfortunately.**

**(A/N: Total and Akila have been left with Dr. Martinez and Ella.)**

Light flooded my vision. I moaned and kept my eyes closed. Angel climbed up next to me and whispered confidentially into my ear. "I said no babies, Max."

My eyes shot open. "Angel?! What are you doing in here?"

"We're hungry," said Nudge.

I squinted past the light and saw all four flock members. Fang tightened his grip from behind me and kissed my neck.

"Eew, Fang," said Gazzy.

"Can we go to Waffle House?" asked Nudge. "Waffles sound really good, especially with hash potato things, and, and stuff."

"OKOKOK!" I said. I sat up and pushed my hair out of my eyes. "Give me a minute, K? I need to look like a grown-up."

"It's not like you act like one or anything, I mean…" Iggy grumbled.

"Can I help?" asked Nudge.

"Sure thing, kiddo," I said. We headed to the bathroom with the second outfit. Nudge, no surprise here, is really good with makeup and hair.

When we came out of the bathroom, we found Angel sitting on the end of the bed while Fang and Gazzy packed our backpacks. I laughed to myself. "Where's Iggy?"

Fang looked up. "What?"

"Iggy. Tall pyro bird kid. Seen him recently?"

"He went ahead to the lobby," said Gazzy. "Why?"

I shrugged. "I just like to know where my flock is."

Fang and I shrugged on our (extra-loose) backpacks and we wound our way down several flights of stairs into the lobby. Iggy was waiting for us, listening to the sounds of people heading to breakfast. We checked out, with a different manager than last night, and boarded a bus to get to Waffle House. Once we got to Waffle House, we all ordered enormous breakfasts. No one commented on our enormous appetites, for once.

After breakfast, we trekked out to an empty field, where we took off. We continued along our pleasant journey to California. I idly wondered what it would be like from below, seeing us flying above.

We continued flying for a couple more hours. Nudge, of course, talked. Iggy was talking quietly with Gazzy, probably about bombs. After a quick and uneventful lunch in a secluded patch of forest, we rose to the clouds again for another four hours of flight.

At long last I spotted it. "Guess what, guys," I said slyly. "We're here."

Angel and Nudge squealed. "Disneyland! Oh my God! This is so totally awesome, Max. Is it like Disney World in Florida? I want cotton candy, Oh, Iggy, I wish you could see this! There's so many people! And there's so much! How long are we staying, Max?"

I smiled, feeling for once like the good guy. "Until we're ready to leave. Unless some flyboys or something come, but it should be a while."

Angel's face fell slightly, but then she smiled. "Are we going to stay in a hotel again?"

"No, sweetie, all the hotels around here are super expensive. But we can camp like real, civilized humans, with a tent and everything."

Gazzy's face fell, too. My heart hurt. Iggy turned in the general direction of the others and said, "But it'll be worth it, right?"

"Okay," I said, returning to Bossy Max. "Fang, will you, Angel, Nudge, Gazzy, and Iggy check us in to the Disneyland campground?"

He nodded.

"Iggy and I will go get the tent and some food, then. Fang, here's my MaxRide card." I flinched at the evil look on his face as I handed it over.

We split. Iggy followed the sound of the beat of my wings down to the ground.

"We should get a cake," he said thoughtfully. "Also some marshmallows and more matches. I need lighter fluid."

"First we need the place to sleep," I said reproachfully. "How big of a tent do you think we'll need?"

"Well, if you and Fang cuddle up nice and friendly…" said Iggy slyly, "then I think we could get a medium-ish sized one. But I'm really not the best judge of size, color, or any of that whole circuit."

"Let's get this one," I said.

"Sure, sure. _What does it look like_?"

"It's red and sort of off-white, very human-looking."

"Then let's go get the food."

"That's your job," I said with a little repressed shudder. We checked out at the register, paying in cash. There was a bakery across the street that looked incredibly tempting. And through the window, I could see… _cookies!_

"Must. Have. Cookies." I grabbed Iggy by the hand and pulled him across the busy street. He winced at cars blared their horns at us. It seemed like eternity, but we finally made it across alive. I opened the door like the door to Heaven (which it was) and we were engulfed in a wave of chocolate-chip cookie scent.

While I stood there, drooling over the sight of the melted chocolate, Iggy made his way up to the counter and got the cookies. I also heard him buy an orange sponge cake. I wondered why, vaguely, and then dropped back into my chocolate-chip cookie fantasies.

"Come on. Let's go. I hear an Erasery voice," said Iggy. My heart started pounding violently.

"Are you sure you're not just being paranoid?"

Of course, Iggy just _had_ to be right. I saw a gorgeous guy, so gorgeous he could have been a male model. He was walking backwards out the kitchen door, carrying a big wedding cake. When EraserBoy saw us, he froze and then backed away, out the door, where he quickly loaded the cake in the back of a truck, jumped in, and drove away.

"I smelled fear on him," said Iggy. His face had a wondered expression on it. "I thought they were all supposed to be dead."

"Apparently they're not. Maybe he was slated for termination, like us, only, like us, he escaped."

Iggy shrugged. "Let's just go get the other food."

And other food we did get. Hot dogs, hamburgers, lettuce, tomatoes, flour, milk, juice, eggs, ice, bacon, chocolate, marshmallows, graham crackers, cheese, noodles, plums, peaches, apples, oranges, grapes, four liters of soda (!), candy… Of course, Iggy just told me what to get and I picked it out and paid for it. That boy… I pay a high price (sometimes) for his gourmet cooking.


	6. Just like any other day, but with cake

We arrived at the campground and wandered around for a while, looking for the others

We arrived at the campground and wandered around for a while, looking for the others. They waved to us from the low branches of a tree. I waved back and said to Iggy, "They're waving at us."

He waved back and we went to set up the tent. After getting tangled up in the tent ropes, skin, pegs, _and_ poles (I'm still not sure how I managed that), I gave up and went to go sit on the top of a picnic table, next to Iggy.

"Should I start the fire now and start cooking?" he asked.

I nodded, and then remembered he was _blind_ for God's sake! "Yeah, okay. I'm sure Nudge is especially hungry."

He dropped his voice. "You're going to tell them about the Eraser, right?"

I sighed. "Yeah. Eventually. I just don't want then to freak out."

"Why should they? There's one of him and six, maybe seven of us. We've faced so much worse."

"Seven?" I asked, unwittingly falling into his trap.

He shrugged. "Well, is there one on the way?"

I groaned and buried my face in my hands. "NO. THERE IS NOT. Nor will there be one."

"Uh-huh."

"Just go do your thing," I said, waving a hand in mock despair.

He left, and I looked back at the campsite. During our pleasant exchange, a tent had magically appeared. Now Angel was leading Fang by the hand toward the table. She let him go so she could climb into my lap. Fang sat down next to me. Nudge jumped up onto the top of the table on my other side. Gazzy ran to sit down between my feet. Then I remembered. It was Gazzy's 'birthday' today. We all burst into song, just the way Jeb had taught us, just the way we'd seen it on TV.

When all was said and sung, we had dessert before dinner, and I loved it. Dinner, courtesy of Iggy, was _amazing_. After dinner, we went swimming again. It was really dark and pretty much abandoned there, which was good for us bird kids. Nonetheless, I made them put on T-shirts over their swim gear. No one saw our wings or our lack of chaperone. Finally, freezing, I got out of the water and went to curl up on a 'lawn chair,' leaving the rest of the flock there to continue splashing and laughing. I wondered what to do about the Eraser, if anything.

Just as I decided to tell Fang and ask him for his dark and silent opinion, the devil himself got out of the water and came over to where I was sitting. He sat down on the end of my chair. "You look unusually thoughtful," he said, "thoughtful being in itself unusual."

I flicked him with water I had squeezed out of my hair. "Iggy and I saw an Eraser."

His face remained dark and impassive. "I thought they were supposed to be terminated."

"That's what Iggy and I thought, too."

"But apparently they still exist."

"How many were there?"

"Just the one."

"And he didn't attack you?"

"No. He was carrying a wedding cake."

Fang's impassive face split into a laugh. "You're not serious?"

"I'm serious."

"Then I don't think you'll have to worry." He was still grinning.

"I still think that we should go check it out."

"Tonight?"

"No, not tonight! Tomorrow, when he's at work."

"All of us, or just us?"

I shivered with a little burst of thrill when he said 'just us.' "I don't want to others to freak out, so just us."

Fang smirked. "That's just an excuse. You want to be alone with me."

I sighed in mock frustration. "Fine. I'll go with Iggy."

Fang leaned forward. "Really? Iggy over me?"

I laughed. "Sexist pig."

"Fine," he said. He leaned back, apparently done. We sat in companionable silence **(A/N: Companionable silences do exist. They're generally mistaken for awkward silences, though, which is unfortunate.)** for a while, until Angel came bouncing up to me. She jumped onto my lap, dripping wet, and I shrieked, just like a normal girl would. Right? Except a normal girl doesn't have wings, and a normal girl isn't lucky enough to have Angel.

"Can we go back now, and roast marshmallows?" she asked.

I was momentarily overwhelmed by the inanity of everything we were doing. Fang, thankfully, noticed. He herded… shooed the rest of the flock along. Herded is kind of a weird word to use for a flock of birds. He waited for me while I slowly got to my feet and gathered my things (wits included).

"You OK?" he asked.

"I'm just… not used to this… freedom. I feel like we should be on the run from Itex and the whitecoats, or back at our house, the one that got overrun by Erasers, or even back at the School."

Fang nodded. "I know. C'mon. Marshmallows."

I smiled. "You sure know how to comfort a girl."


	7. We have FANFICS?

Disclaimer: I do not own Maximum Ride, any of the characters therein, or Disney anything

**Disclaimer: I do not own **_**Maximum Ride**_**, any of the characters therein, or Disney anything.**

Back at the campsite, there were marshmallows. Lots of marshmallows. Burnt marshmallows, 'raw' marshmallows, brown marshmallows, golden marshmallows, flaming marshmallows. Flying marshmallows. On e flew off of Nudge's stick and hit Gazzy in the forehead. I tried, unsuccessfully, not to laugh. After all, we had been in so many worse situations.

I ate several batches of marshmallows on a stick. Then I noticed Fang sitting far from the others with his laptop on. He was on a swing in the playground, which was conveniently located next to our campsite. I snuck up behind him as quietly as I could. He didn't notice. Whatever he was looking at on the screen wasn't his blog, and he wasn't typing, either. I leaned forward and rested my chin on his shoulder. He didn't move. Instead, he spoke quietly. "Look, Max."

I looked. And I looked some more. And I laughed. "These people write like they know us."

"That's nothing," he said. He pulled up another fanfic.

Just the title of it made me cringe. _Fang's Ride_ was its charming greeting to the world. Inspired by morbid curiosity, I read on. By the end of the 'oneshot,' I wished I hadn't come over to find Fang. I was too mortified to speak.

"Good to know what normal people think about in their spare time," said Fang, as devoid of emotion as ever.

"Oh, my God," I finally managed.

"And there aren't just Fang-and-Max get dirty ones. There are Max and Iggy, Gazzy and Iggy, Nudge and Iggy, Gazzy and Nudge, Iggy and Ella, Nudge and Max, and Fang and Iggy. Thankfully, Angel is left out of this mess."

I shuddered. "My poor baby…"

"Speaking of, we should probably go back now." He stood up and I walked back with him to find that Iggy and Gazzy had pulled TNT out of God knows where and were tossing mini-firecrackers into the fire. The 'neighbors' were starting to glare, so I hushed my pyros.

"Aw, Max. Do we really have to?" asked Gazzy. Iggy turned his blank eyes towards me.

"Yes, honey. And actually… it's bedtime."

Even Fang expressed discontent at my statement. I held up my hands. "It's not my fault the theme parks open early."

At that, my Flock settled down, doing all their normal pre-bedtime stuff. We all huddled in the tent, stacked and tapped, and Gazzy, Angel, and Nudge fell asleep quickly. I exchanged glances with Iggy and Fang, and we snuck out of the tent. We headed back to the kids' playground at sat on a tire swing.

"So. EraserBoy. What should we do?" I asked cheerily.

"Do you think there are more?" asked Fang.

"No. There was definitely just one," said Iggy firmly.

"Why can't we just leave him alone, them?" I asked.

"He might call more," said Fang.

"Besides, he might be lonely," said Iggy with his puppy-dog pout. I cracked up.

"I guess it would be good to find out how he got away," I conceded. "So should we go back to the bakery tomorrow or wait a day."

"Let the kids have their fun tomorrow," said Iggy.

"Then the day after that, we can go interrogate EraserBoy!" I finished gleefully. Who said playin gleader isn't fun? Oh. Right. That was me.

"Ok, that's done," said Fang, returning to his usual blank exterior. "Let's go."

So we went back and snuck into the tent. Fang made his way past three sleeping bird kids and came to curl up next to me. I willed my heartbeat to slow down, but to no avail. He heard it and grinned into me neck. "Don't try to tell me you're not affected," he whispered.

I sighed. "Good night, Fang."

He kissed me. "Good night, Max."

I heard Iggy sigh in exasperation and flinched as he threw a T-shirt at us. Luckily, it missed. I closed my eyes and fell into dreams.


	8. The Worst Dream Ever

Disclaimer: I do not own Maximum Ride or any of the characters therein

**Disclaimer: I do not own **_**Maximum**__**Ride**_** or any of the characters therein.**

I awoke in the morning. It was dark and rainy and generally dreary. The tent was abandoned. I went outside and found a white van…and who was leaning on the side of it but our dear old friend Jeb. He smiled benignly and said, "Hello, Maximum. It's time for some more experiments."

"What kind of experiments?" I asked. I trusted him with nothing, not even a pair of dirty socks.

"Lots of them. It will be great fun." He swung open the door of the van to reveal my Flock, caged and terrified. I started to fight, but was subdued by whitecoats. They shot me full of some sedative and the last thing I heard was Fang's voice calling my name.

I came to in a room full of scary-looking steel tools. Anne stood in front of our crates. She smiles a small, sad smile. "Zephyr first," she said.

"NO!" I screamed. "Take me first!"

The whitecoats leered at me as Anne said, "Very well then." They grabbed me and wrestled me out.

Another, more important-looking whitecoat came in. "We're doing something different today," he said with a scary, sick smile. "Maximum, my dear, today you don't have to worry about not playing dirty. Today we want you to play dirty."

Fang growled. "What are you doing?"

Bigshot Whitecoat smiled gently. "This is an experiment, child. You see, avian-human hybrids, really any hybrids, were engineered to have one soul mate throughout life. Obviously, Subject… I mean, Max, has found her soul mate. We know that she can mate with this subject, but we're going to find out if she can mate with another hybrid.

"Nooo…" moaned Gazzy. Even through my terror, I realized how terrible this must be, his being here and having to listen to 'soul mate' talk.

Fang growled. Then a few of the lesser whitecoats crept warily up to Iggy's cage. "You said this one has been disarmed, right?"

Both Iggy and I started to fight madly as soon as Iggy was out of his cage. "The harder you make it for us, the harder we will make it for you," said the big, bad whitecoat.

When I kept trying to escape, he said, "You don't want your flock to have to see this, do you?"

"See what?" I snarled. "Artificial insemination? Ooh, how exciting."

"You're just in denial now, Maximum dear. You'd be surprise at the things we can make you do and the ways we can …persuade you to do them."

They shoved us into a tiny white room down the hall. We retreated to opposite white corners, not looking at each other. Well, I didn't look at Iggy. He obviously wasn't looking at me. A voice, female this time, came over the speaker. "Please, get on with it. This is terribly awkward."

We didn't move. The bigshot whitecoat's voice came on over the speaker. "Very well, then."

A bunch of panels slid open all around the top of the ceiling. My other Flock members had been moved there and were now watching in terror.

"Could there be less of a turn-on?" I squeaked.

"Yes," said the speaker. "How's this?" A whitecoat grabbed Nudge and made a light cut across her neck.

I screamed. But they wouldn't harm a test subject. So I didn't move. The floor sent a jolt of electricity up my body through my feet. I still didn't move.

I continued to avoid Iggy until ther picked up Angel They held a knife to her throat. I couldn't stand to see the terror in her eyes. They also restrained Gazzy. "Fine!" I screamed. I ran forward to Iggy. "I'm sorry," I sobbed, unbuttoning his shirt. I heard a shrill scream reverberate down the hall. They had stuck a syringe of some kind into Angel, my baby. I sped up my actions, trying not to think too hard about what I was doing. Tears were pouring down my cheeks as I saw Fang's furious face and Nudge covering her eyes.

The sadistic whitecoats, deciding that this was taking too long, brought out a shock baton and swatted Gazzy with it. His hair literally stood up straight on his head. Iggy took over the unspeakable act. I just lay there, sobbing. What is this, Maximum Ride crying? I bit my lip and stopped my waterfall of tears.

It was over, finally. The whitecoats led us out and back to our crates. Then they dragged out Nudge, Gazzy, and Angel, still in their cages. They shot Nudge in the head, Gazzy in the stomach, and jabbed Angel with another syringe. Nothing happened for a brief second, and then she dropped to the bottom of her cage, writhing in agony. I started screaming and crying again, calling their names and denying their massacre.


	9. Just a Dream

Disclaimer: I do not own Maximum Ride or any of the characters, locations, and original ideas therein

**Disclaimer: I do not own **_**Maximum Ride**_** or any of the characters, locations, and original ideas therein. Nor do I own any Disney trademarks, etc.**

I woke hot, drenched in sweat, tears still pouring down my face, tangled in a mess of blankets, backpacks, clothes, and Fang, biting back another scream. It was broad daylight, sunny, dry, and warm. My flock was huddled around me, looking worried. Fang slowly disentangled himself from me, and I laid absolutely still, panting. Angel crawled up next to me. "Max? Are you okay?"

I nodded carefully. "It was just a nightmare."

"It must have been a pretty bad nightmare. You were screaming and crying and punching things, mostly Fang, and calling our names out," said Gazzy.

I froze. Had I really said everything I said in my dream out loud? I felt Angel brush at the edges of my consciousness and blocked out everything that had just happened in my dream. "Let's just forget about it," I said cheerily. "Remember, today's Disneyland day!"

Iggy rose, sort of bent over, and felt his way out of the tent. I just sat there, trying to calm down. Fang shooed Gazzy and Angel out of the tent. Nudge followed them, wordlessly for once.

Fang put his hand on my shoulder. "You sure you're okay?"

I shook my head.

"What was it?"

I shook my head. "I'm not saying around the others."

He lifted his eyebrows. I sighed and laid back down. "How bad was I?"

"Screaming."

"What did I say?"

"Stuff about Jeb, whitecoats, Angel. A lot about Iggy. Also artificial insemination."

"How much of this did the others hear?" I whispered in mortification. I wasn't sure I wanted to hear.

"Just the end part, where you were apologizing, crying, and screaming about Angel, Gazzy, and Nudge being killed."

I flinched and returned to blocking my thoughts from Angel. Eventually, the scent of frying bacon reached me and I awoke fully. Fang put his hand on my arm as I stood up. "You're OK?"

"It was just a dream," I snapped. "I'm fine."

Dark eyes regarded me. "No," he said. "You're not."

I sighed and brushed past him to get bacon. Nudge looked at me with worry. "Max, are you okay? You were crying a lot. And you were screaming a lot, too. They shot Gazzy in the stomach? Oh, I get it. You were dreaming about the School. But why would they actually kill us if they wanted to do experiments on us?"

Angel blinked hard. "It was scary, Nudge. You died, and Gazzy died, and I died, and it was just Max and Fang and Iggy, and… and… Max?"

"Shh, honey, it was just a dream."

"Max, what's artificial insemination?"

I blushed. "It's a way to make people have babies," I said. "Now shh. Let's forget about it. It was just a dream."

She looked depressed as she ate her bacon. It broke my heart to see her this affected by something as insignificant as a dream. "Oh, Angel, sweetie, cheer up. Remember we're going to Disneyland today?"

She brightened visibly at that, and even more as Iggy brought over peach pancakes. (Peach pancakes, by the way, are just like blueberry pancakes, except with chopped up peaches instead of blueberries.) Don't ask me how he does that. I have no freakin' clue. I mean… we're in a campground. He's cooking over a barbeque grill. _Pancakes?_ Oh, but that wasn't all. We also had scrambled eggs with little slices of hot dog scattered throughout. _As if we hadn't had enough food to eat last night_. I could learn to live with this. I watched, stomach full, as Iggy repositioned the remaining food in the remaining ice.

"So, let's go," said Gazzy.

"Max, is this like Disney World in Florida? Because if it is, it would be totally awesome. I mean, I want to go in the castle, even if it isn't really a castle. Do they call it Cinderella's Castle here? Oh! Will they have cotton candy? I really want cotton candy. Are we going to go on all of the rides?" asked Nudge. Thankfully, they had moved on from my disturbing dream.

Gazzy looked up at me with those innocent blue eyes. "Do they have a Tomorrowland?"

I raised my arms in mock defeat. "Agh! We'll see when we get there, OK? Let's go catch the bus now, so we'll get there sooner."

Angel grabbed me by the hand and led us all down to the bus station. I stood there for several minutes, trying to figure out the bus system. I finally figured out that the buses had their destinations scrolling across their foreheads. So we waited. Our bus finally came. Of course, I hadn't needed to worry about finding our way. Angel knew. She tugged my hand and we boarded the bus.

Part of me liked this, and part of me hated it. It was a free, clean bus… and it was enclosed and sort of dark. But hey, it got us where we needed (okay, wanted) to go. We pulled up outside a bunch of high-security gates. Angel got up and led the rest of us down the aisle of the bus.

When we stopped outside the ticket booth, my heart stopped. Or so it seemed. The prices were incredibly high. Of course we had to be 2/3 10+. That just worked out, as always. Wonderful. Hopefully my MaxRide card could withstand today, because it was going to get a workout.

I bought us tickets, mentally vowing never to come here again, and we sauntered off to the gates. The security guards waved us through metal detectors and the like.

We pushed through the throng… and there it was.

**(A/N: My sincerest apologies. The characters are becoming ever more OOC, mostly because I haven't read the original books in… … … a long time. Like, last December or something like that)**

**(A/N II: I have no idea if my facts about Disneyland are straight. All I have is an online map and a knowledge of Disney World.)**


	10. The Magic Castle

Disclaimer: I do not own Maximum Ride or any of the characters therein, nor do I own Disney trademarks or characters

**Disclaimer: I do not own **_**Maximum Ride**_** or any of the characters therein, nor do I own Disney trademarks or characters.**

There it was. The money-making juggernaut. Angel's mouth was slightly open as she took in everything. Iggy looked impatient. I tried to imagine what it must be like for him here, with all the noise, canceling out one of his only remaining senses. I took his hand and placed it in Angel's. "Angel, honey," I whispered, "Can you show Iggy everything that's going on?"

She nodded, still gazing with wonder at the sheer size of the place. Fang tapped me on the shoulder and handed me a map. The second I looked at it, I regretted coming here. There was just… so _much_. And, being with Angel and Nudge and their Bambi eyes, there was no turning back. I sighed. "Okay, guys. Where are we going first?"

Gazzy pointed right, towards Tomorrowland. At the same time, Angel pointed forward. Nudge didn't point, she talked. "Straight ahead, of course, to the castle! I mean, that's what it's there for, right? It's supposed to mean you're entering a magic place, I think, where everyone's supposed to be princes and princesses and kings and queens and there are wicked stepmothers and good fairies and bad fairies and fairy godmothers…"

I looked to Fang for help, but he just shifted his weight to his back leg and crossed his arms. "Castle it is, then," I sighed.

"Is there somewhere you wanted to go instead, Max?" asked Angel, snapping out of her trance.

I smiled down at her. "Wherever. Today is a day for crazy indulgent fun, right?"

She and Iggy led our way down Main Street, USA. Gazzy, though nine and almost too old to be roped in by mass marketing, stared around at everything as we passed it.

Nudge kept up a steady stream of words. "Look at all the little shops, Max! It's almost like New York City, except without apartment buildings and without the smell. It smells like chocolate and popcorn and cotton candy and chocolate, and right here it smells realllllllly good… oh, look! It's a fudge store. Oh, my God, it smells so good. And there's a little bakery. Aww! Aren't the teddy bears so cute? Hey, there's a mermaid. What's her name again? Ariel. That's right. Like Angel at Anne's house. I would feel sooooo awkward in that shell bikini, though. I mean, what if the string broke? And wouldn't it be kind of creepy to stand in front of a bunch of random people with just a couple of shells and a bunch of sequins? Seriously, she has to wave at everyone she sees. I bet her arms are getting tired. They're actually making her take pictures like that?!"

I let her talk freely and as long as she liked. After all, today was their day, wasn't it? All of a sudden she stopped. We all stopped, stopped dead in our tracks and looked up, except for Iggy, who was seeing everything through Angel's eyes. **(A/N: LOL)** The castle rose above us, tall and turret-y. I had a sudden urge to jump up and fly to the top of the castle. So, apparently, did Angel and Nudge. They looked back at me with Bambi eyes. I covered my own eyes and beckoned them over. Their faces brightened.

"OK, guys. If you really want to fly up there, we'll have to do it later, by dark," I whispered.

Their expressions would have been funny to watch if they weren't so adorable. They went from prepared-to-be-denied to oh-my-God-Max-just-agreed, every single one of them. Even Fang. Then it sank in and Angel threw herself on me in joy. She was quickly joined by Nudge and Gazzy, then Iggy. I looked back at Fang, who had put his hand on my shoulder, and caught him in a rare smile, the kind of smile you'd find on a parent watching their kid do something absolutely baby-adorable.


	11. Picture Perfect

**.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own **_**Maximum Ride**_** or any of the characters therein. Nor do I own Disney or Disney trademarks.**

So we were having this adorable family moment, right? Just like any normal family would. Except, oh, yeah. We're _kids_. We have _wings._ I'm nobody's mom. But heck, this is as close as it gets, and these are the moments that make everything worth it, these and watching Itex buildings collapse in flames. So I just hugged them back, grinning. Just you wait until tonight, during the fireworks display. Tinkerbell? We are _so_ better than Tinkerbell. We're, like, 20 times bigger than she is. _And_ we have superpowers. So there.

There was a sudden flash and click, and we turned around to see a beaming old woman with a digital camera. "Adorable!" she cooed. "The best I've ever seen!"

I'm pretty sure we were the definition of deer-in-the-headlights right then. I gulped.

"Would you like to see it?" she bubbled.

I lowered my voice and said confidentially, "Mom and Dad don't want us to have our pictures taken. But if you could email it to us—"

She pointed to a nearby kiosk. "They're the people you want to talk to," she said with a kindly smile.

Putting my best good-little-girl smile on, I went up to the vendor, a cheery young man. I fed him the same story, figuring consistency would be good for once.

"OK," he finally said. "I'll give you a discount since we're not printing your image for you. It'll be 7.50, plus tax."

My eyes bugged out. I could feel Angel and Nudge beside me giving me the Bambi eyes, so I gritted my teeth and forked over the cash.

"OK, babe, what's your email address?"

"Nick?" I asked. Fang was already next to me, giving the vendor the death stare. He slowly spelled it out, acting almost like the vendor guy was slow.

"OK, dude," said Mr. OK. He did some typing and clicking, and then grinned again. "OK, it'll be waiting for you when you get home."

"Can you delete it from your archives?" asked Iggy quietly.

Mr. OK looked puzzled. "OK, why?"

"Please?" asked Angel.

"OK, then," he said.

I thanked him and shook his hand. He looked past me still at Angel, entranced. She smiled and waved. "It's OK, Seth," she said reassuringly. "You'll find a girlfriend. Girls don't hate you."

His eyes widened in shock. I patted Angel on the head. "Ariel, sweetie, remember that talk we had about not talking to people about the stories you make up? It's not polite to play pretend with people you don't know."

Angel knew what I was doing. She pouted, playing along, as I turned to Mr. OK, AKA Seth, and smiled apologetically. "Thanks, Seth. It was really nice of you to email us that picture."

"OK," he said, still stunned. "OK, thanks." His grin returned. "Have a magical day, OK?"

We moved on, smiling and nodding until we were out of sight. Then the Nudge-channel flipped on again and she forgot about the picture incident entirely. "I'm so looking forward to tonight! It's going to be so awesome! Are we going to do it during the fireworks, or after? If we do it during the fireworks, will we get burned? I don't want to get singed by the sparks, even if they are pretty. Ohmygod, Iggy!" She stopped and turned. "Tonight will be your first time ever actually _seeing_ fireworks! I mean, you make all kinds of bombs and fireworks and stuff, but you never really see it, do you? That really, really sucks. But I still bet you could make a better fireworks show than any, like, 'professional' people? Why aren't there ever blue fireworks? There are green and pink and orange and yellow and white, but I don't think I've ever seen a purple or blue firework. Is saying 'firework' okay, or should it be 'fireworks' even when there's just one of them? Because 'firework' just doesn't sound right. I mean, I guess it could sound right if I got used to it, but does that mean it should be right? Max? Do you know?"

I shrugged. "Nudge, honey, I have no idea."

Iggy pulled a 'pensive' look, stroking his chin, narrowing his eyes. "I bet Gazzy and I could make purple and blue fireworks. _And_ a better fireworks show than any you've ever seen."

"Max, can we?" asked Gazzy excitedly. "That would be so cool. Where would we do it? I mean, just in the middle of nowhere, or like in front of people, or what?"

My heart stopped. "Not in front of people! Sure, the government doesn't want us killed now, but since they know about us, it would probably be good not to break a bunch of their laws."

Nudge kicked back in. "Maybe we could go to the ocean and Iggy and Gazzy could make like little boats to put the fireworks in and put them on the ocean and fire them off at sunset and we could watch from the beach and if anybody sees, they won't find any, like, firework bodies. Fireworks bodies? Or maybe they could set them off on a mountainside and make snow fall down the slopes. Or—"


	12. Certainly Different

**.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own **_**Maximum Ride**_** or any of the characters therein, etc. Nor do I own Disney or Disney trademarks.**

We came out on the other side of the castle and repeated the stop-and-stare process. It was just… so BIG. There was so much to see and so and hear. Angel and Iggy turned. "Max?" said Angel. "I want to go on that." She was pointing to a massive merry-go-round.

"King Arthur Carrousel," read Nudge. "Shouldn't it be King _Arthur's_ Carrousel, like with an apostrophe and an s? Is it called King Arthur because King Arthur had a round table and this merry-go-round is round? Why did King Arthur's knights fight over the head and foot of the table, anyway? I think that's a little weird. And why did they even need a table just for them? They ate together with their wives and kids in a big hall and stuff and they didn't write, did they? They had, like, scribes or monks or something. It would suck to be a monk, wouldn't it? I mean, you're only allowed to eat a little and sleep a little and you have to copy books all day, and you're not allowed to _talk_ most of the time. What kind of a person would do that? I guess if you're really religious and think that that's the best way to get to heaven."

I put my hand over Nudge's mouth before she started to offend people. We were saved by the bell that signified a new load of people were to get on the 'Carrousel.' We bird kids piled on, Angel on a white horse (of course) with blue trimmings and saddle and things, Nudge on a pretty blonde horse, Iggy on a gray one next to Angel, Gazzy on a speckled gray one, Fang on a black horse (what else?), and me on a chocolate-brown horse. I'm pretty sure they all have proper names for the colors, but being on the run and all, we haven't had much time to learn horse colors.

Sure enough. Nudge graced us with that knowledge. "See the one Angel's riding? That one's sort of like an albino or something. Mine is called a palomino. Gazzy's is dapple-gray. You and Fang have pretty much regular horses. If yours was a little more red, it could be called chestnut, which I think is kind of a weird name for a color."

I had to stifle a laugh at the sight of Fang on his black horse, on a merry-go-round. His glare challenged me to say something. I, being the great and fearless Maximum Ride, took that challenge. "Fang the strong and silent, on the strong and silent black horse, on the very manly 'Carrousel!'

Iggy snorted. Fang gave him a dirty look that was, for once, not wasted. Angel giggled.

I could see relief in Fang's face as the horses slowed down. And… was that a little bit of disappointment?

"Max, let's go on those," said Angel.

I took one look at it and regretted eating Iggy's enormous breakfast. Nevertheless… it was my flock. "Anybody up for a mad tea party?" I asked bravely. I hoped I wouldn't have to deal with a reverse tea party. **(A/N: A reverse tea party is a tea party, just in reverse. Have you ever rewound movies and watched them go backwards? The eating scenes are especially interesting. It looks like they're puking up whole food.)** Iggy looked slightly queasy just at the thought, I looked at Fang, and then wondered why I had bothered. A merry-go-round was probably the only thing he would go on in his entire lifetime.

Nudge and Gazzy, though, were all for it. They went to stand in line, all excited like… kids in Disneyland. Fang, Iggy, and I went to stand against the railing and wait for them. I caught appraising looks from several girls walking by. They were checking Fang and Iggy out. Iggy, of course, paid them no attention. I kicked Fang in the shin and glared at him. He looked at me innocently and left to go get some cotton candy, supposedly for Nudge.

"The world is a beautiful place," said Iggy thoughtfully. "I see it now through new eyes."

I wasn't sure whether to laugh or what to say if I didn't laugh. But he leaned over and kissed me softly. "And it's made even more beautiful by the fact that you're in it."

This was not the Iggy I was used to.


	13. The Magic Cliché

**.**

Disclaimer: I do not own _Maximum Ride_ or any of the characters or original plot lines therein. Nor do I own Disney or any Disney trademarks.

Fang came back into view, carrying not one, not two, not even three, but _six_, SIX bags of cotton candy. Iggy leaned back, turning his face to the warm sun. Fang didn't look suspicious, but then again, he's fang. He never looks anything other than dark and stoic. Well, at least in front of other people. But now? He leaned closer and brushed a strand of hair away from my face. Then he handed me a bag of cotton candy.

I tried my hardest not to eat it all in one go. Once I acknowledged its inferiority to Mom's cookies, I could slow down.

"Blue," said Iggy, still fascinated with his 'new' power. His long, slender fingers skimmed the surface of the cotton candy. "Pink. Yellow. No, light yellow. With a red Mickey Mouse symbol on the front.

Then the whirlwind that was Nudge, Angel, and Gazzy descended upon us. I watched in horror as Fang distributed bulging bags of pure sugar to my mutants. I was just glad that the sugary bulge was mostly air. We ate while we walked, looking at everything with big eyes. I tried to put the Iggy incident out of my minds until I could deal with it later.

After the Mad-and-Thankfully-Not-Reverse Tea Party, we visited practically every other attraction there. We skipped Mickey's Toontown because none of us were really up on or down with all the Disney cartoon characters. Fantasyland was by far Angel's favorite part. I saw her looking back over her shoulder at it the whole time, especially through Gazzy's favorite, Tomorrowland. She was surprisingly good, though, at keeping Iggy up-to-date on the outside world. _Don't think about Iggy. Don't think about Iggy. _Toolate_. Think about Fang instead. Not this sudden other personality._

Fang. Fang. Although he won't ever admit it, even under torture of nonstop Nudge, I think Fang really likes the Haunted Mansion. He _almost_ laughed a couple times. Same with the Pirates of the Caribbean. Iggy, I think, was disappointed by the "cannon" effects. Nudge adored Splash Mountain and the merry little band of mini-mutants insisted that we go on it a second time, and a third. Only the promise of dinner after Tom Sawyer's Island (to dry off) was able to lure them away.

We finally collapsed, exhausted, at a table in one of the more swanky Disney Diners. "OK, guys," I said at the risk of sounding like Seth the Kiosk Man. "I know you're really hungry, but just get one entrée first. We have to avoid another management scene."

So they all ordered very large entrées, finished those, and went up to thirds before sighing in satisfaction and agreeing to pick up ice cream somewhere else.

It was almost dark when we left the eatery. While the others went to get their ice cream, I made a quick side-trip to get several enormous bags of popcorn. We "disappeared" into a stand of trees near the outside edges of the park and pretended we didn't exist while we ate out ice cream. As the last traces of ice cream cones vanished into bird-kid mouths, I whispered old commands. "U and A on three!"

There was much grabbing of popcorn bags and a collective breath of "One… two… three!"

We exploded (silently) out of the top of the trees. People were only just beginning to gather to see the inferior-to-Iggy fireworks, so we made it safely to the top of Castle Heraldry. We perched on the highest safe place we could reach. Angel climbed into my lap, with Nudge and Gazzy on either side of her. She kept a firm grip on Iggy's hand. "Sit there," she ordered, directing him to a "seat" next to me. Fang hovered for a few seconds longer and then settled in on my other side with a flutter of raven feathers.

My heart burst into involuntary and uncontrollable palpitations all over again. I felt Angel giggle, and I sighed. Sometimes, there's no use trying to hide _anything_ from _anyone_ in this Flock.

The final traces of light disappeared from the sky. Even the stars were covered now. The music blared even louder and Iggy flinched. Angel squeezed his hand and I slung my arm around his shoulders.

The first burst of exploded in the sky. Angel jumped, and I saw a contented smile cross Iggy's serene face. I turned back to the sky and watched the rain of glowing, multi-colored sparks.

Fang's arm slipped around my waist. I acted like it didn't faze me (it did) and just rested my head on his shoulder.


	14. Max Confusion

**(Author's Note: I just realized I lost a chapter or somehow forgot to put it up. So it's been reinstated. It's chapter 3, I believe, Spectacular. I encourage you to go back and read it. It will come in handy later, as it introduces some important... stuff.)**

**Disclaimer: I do not own **_**Maximum Ride**_** or any of the characters or original conceptions therein. Nor do I own Disney trademarks, Disney theme park, or Disney itself.**

Fang's hand slid up my back and he started rubbing circles between my wings. Sparks flew. Literally, from the fireworks all around us. Nudge turned around and gave me a huge wink.

It was perfect. It was more than perfect. Okay, it was less than perfect. There were no cookies, Mom's or otherwise, up here. But I refused to let that ruin my otherwise almost-perfect moment. And I will never, ever tell anyone, not Angel, not Nudge, not Ella, and certainly not Fang, what would make this moment absolutely perfect (minus the cookies).

Then Iggy's arm encircled my waist. I remembered that I had forgotten about his earlier kiss.

_What am I supposed to do?!_ I thought frantically. This was a totally new predicament. I mean, I'm so used to fighting Erasers it's like tying my shoes. But this stuff? No way. The closest I'd ever come to an official "relationship" was with Sam, when we were still at Anne's house. Anything else was courtesy of Fang in his stranger moments. But IGGY?

I carefully extricated myself from Angel and pulled away from both Fang and Iggy. I executed my favorite move: flight from the scene of Max confusion. **(A/N: Haha… Max confusion, like mass confusion)** My wings spread out wide and I rose to the top-most turret. Here, there wasn't room for life-complicating sexist pigs.

I won't deny, Iggy isn't that bad. I guess if you look at him objectively, he's pretty cute. I've never really thought of Iggy that way, though. I usually think of him as one of the younger kids. Maybe I should start treating him like the fifteen he is.

I'm not sure what makes him seem like one of the younger kids. Maybe it's his blindness, or maybe it's because he hangs out with Gazzy more than Fang or me. He just seems younger.

Fang. Should I tell him about this latest and most unsettling development? Or should I just wait for Iggy to get over this… whatever-it-is. Maybe I should just not acknowledge it.

Okay, here's my main hang-up: Iggy or Fang? I mean, I know Fang and I have something going. ("_There will always be a you and me_.") But Iggy apparently has something going for me. I guess I wouldn't really mind him… _WHAT AM I THINKING?!_ I'm permanently on the road with a bunch of mutants. I can't afford to have a 'boyfriend.' Especially not one I live with. What would happen to my flock in we had a big falling-out? Probably bad things I don't want to think about. And I can't let bad things happen to my babies.

I looked down at said Avian-Americans with pride. Iggy's blank eyes were wide open, staring blissfully up at the sky. Angel lay next to him, her head on his shoulder. Nudge and Gazzy were sitting the same way as when I'd left. Fang was stretched out, looking unusually relaxed. Apparently, I was the only one bothered right now. Well, that's not so unusual, is it? I forced a deep breath and watched the fireworks explode all around.

They didn't go on much longer than that. The music faded to a bearable level and people started to thin out below, steering tired children toward the exit. I heard my fledglings below talking. "Where's Max?" asked Nudge. "She was right there, like all cuddled up to Fang and Angel and everything, and now she's gone. But nothing bad could've happened to her, could it? We're all protected by law as a rare and endangered species."

I glided down from my turret. "I'm right here," I said. "I've been practicing my new skill of teleportation."

"_Really?_" asked Gazzy.

"No, not really," I admitted. "OK, guys. I hate to do this to you, but it's time to go back and go to sleep. Tomorrow we're going to have sort of a rest day and then go into the city for a little while."

"L.A.?" asked Nudge excitedly. "Like where everything happens? Well, more like half of everything. You know what's not fair? Everything happens either in New York or in L.A., but nothing in the middle. And I think New York or L.A. would be a better capitol than Washington, DC. I mean, come on. How random is DC?

"Maybe L.A.," I said in reply to the first part of her ramble. "It depends on how tired we are and what everyone else wants ro do. Also, it might rain tomorrow."

"So?"

"Honey, we actually have the choice of running down city streets in the rain, as opposed to being forced to. Usually, it's a we-have-to-in-order-to-live thing, but we actually have the option not to this time."

"Oh. But then there are other places we can go, right? Like—"

"Yes. Cookie shopping closer to here. Now come on, it's big bad bedtime and I don't know about you guys, but I'm tired."

We glided, unnoticed, back to the ground, where we boarded a bus and went back to the campsite. We went through the whole process of getting ready for bed, stacked and tapped, and dispersed to fall asleep. I purposely brushed my teeth last, took my shower in the campground bath-house last, got back to the campsite last, and so on. I waited outside the tent, on the picnic bench, for them to fall completely asleep. I intended to sleep alone. At long last, as I was just about to fall asleep sitting up, I heard their breathing even out in sleep. I got up to sneak in the tent.


	15. Glory and the Storm

**Disclaimer: I do not own _Maximum Ride_ or any of the characters therein, nor do I own Pok**é**mon.**

Seemingly out of nowhere, Fang stood up beside me. I mentally cursed his 'skill' of 'camouflage' and turned to face him. "Yes?"

"Something's wrong."

"Nothing's wrong."

"You're upset."

"No I'm not."

"I know you better than that."

Normally, I would give in around here. Today I didn't feel like it. "I'm _absolutely_, one hundred percent peachy-keen."

Fang put his hand on my shoulder and moved in to kiss me. I stepped away. I had had enough stress from that sort of thing today.

"I told you, I'm absolutely fine. So leave me alone!"

"Max, come to bed. You're tired."

"Damn right," I snapped. "I'm tired of this drama." For the second time that day I jumped into the air, snapping my wings out. I saw Fang's hair whipping his face in the wind as I rose, then I put him aside momentarily. I shot into the air at super-fast Max speeds, and kept going up, straight up. The temperature around me got colder and moisture condensed on my wings. Finally, when the air was getting thin, I slowed down and just hovered. I savored the darkness of the night and the clouds swirling below me. I raised my arms above my head, stretching farther into the sky, and back down to the top of the cloud… canopy, for lack of a better word. Vaguely, I noticed the wind picking up.

_First, Fang. That's great, now that I'm used to it. Like the first time he kissed me? That was… unexpected and very confusing. It's great now that we've actually got something going. Now there's the Eraser. There's only one of those, so I shouldn't really be bothered much by it. I kind of want to find out how it escaped. But Iggy? His sudden interest in me? Maybe life after saving the world isn't going to be that easy. There's always _something_ happening to screw things up._

In my fury, pain, confusion… I didn't notice the clouds around me darkening until there was a flash of lightning, a crash of thunder, and a sudden scattering of water droplets. My hair, now damp, blew in my face. Tendrils of gray clouds began to wrap themselves around my ankles, then my legs, then mounds of mist rose all around me. There was another flash of lightning. _I am liking this,_ I thought. _No- strike that. I'm _loving_ this. It's like… I feel strong and important, and not in a save-the-world way._

Since no one was up there with me, I threw my arms open wide. Raindrops scattered everywhere. Thin streaks of clouds spiraled away from my fingertips, joined by larger swirls, rotating quickly and gathering more clouds. I threw myself at them, crushing their frightening growth and scattering the puffs of clouds.

Below, the skies were clearing slightly, calming and solidifying into soft grey. Farther down, I saw a dark, winged figure slowly ascending out of the mist. Fang. I disregarded him. He wouldn't be able to make it up here before I came down of my own free will.

Something came hurtling at me. I flipped over and held my combat boots straight out for my enemy to slam his (her?) own stomach into. Twin lightning bolts shot past me in the direction of… _Fang_? He ducked then, his face utterly astonished. "How did you do that?"

"I… think I developed a new skill," I said weakly.

"No kidding. Try it again." He backwinged. "Throw a punch."

I did. I felt the crackle of electricity beside me, traveling next to my fist as I threw my punch at Fang. It continued to travel forward at lightning (ha ha) speed. Fang dodged it and came flying back to me. Nudge rose out of the sky and stopped next to me. "That's so cool, Max! You can, like, control the weather!"

"Not _the_ weather, just weather," I said, picturing myself as Weather Woman.

"It's totally cool, anyways!" She threw a punch, too, but nothing happened. She pouted but then shrugged. "Max, come back with us and go to sleep now that the storm is over. You really scared Angel. She knew you were out there in the storm, but she didn't know where you were and couldn't tell what you were thinking. We were all really worried about you and Fang."

"Well, we're fine. I'm going to go make sure the others are okay." I rose up and arced down into a smooth dive through the clouds, finally landing lightly in a puddle of mud. I shook out my feathers and climbed back into the tent.

"We were worried about you," said Gazzy, his nine-year-old voice quavering with the relief he was trying not to show too much of.

"You have a new power?" asked Angel excitedly. She started to climb into my lap but stopped and climbed back out, exclaiming, "Ew, you're all wet!" She sat next to me instead.

'Are you okay?" asked Iggy.

"I'm fine," I said. "Yes, I have a new power. But I don't think it really works anywhere but in the sky."

"Try it down here," said Gazzy.

I sighed and raised my arm to throw a punch, then stopped, horrified. "Not in here! The tent might, I don't know, blow up or something!"

Outside, there were two thuds and some splashing. Fang and Nudge came into the tent, sopping wet and exhausted. I tossed them both handfuls of T-shirts to dry off, although I kind of liked the look on Fang. He and Nudge sat down next to me, so it was wet bird-kids facing dry bird-kids in a circle.

"Max, do you have _any_ idea what time it is?" asked Nudge reproachfully. "We were all asleep, nice and peaceful, and then all of a sudden there's this huge bolt of lightning that comes down and hits the ground right outside. So we go outside to see what's going on—"

"You went outside?!"

She ignored me. "…and we look up at the sky even though it's raining and there are clouds gathering around this one spot way up high in the sky and they're really kind of scary looking. And then these two little swirls like little baby tornadoes started to come down but then they kind of exploded. That was when it really hit us that you were missing. Angel said you were out flying but that she didn't know where you were or what was going on. Fang was missing, too, so I went up to try and find both of you. And Max, that fighting with lightning thing is co cool. It's like… a Pokémon power- thing. THUNDERPUNCH!"

I laughed.

"Maximum! I choose you!" shouted Iggy. "Or does it sound better with Max?"

"Attack, use THUNDERPUNCH!" cried Gazzy.

"Shh," I cautioned. "We don't want the nice next-tent neighbors to hear us."

Nudge looked down. "It's past one in the morning," she said.

Oh, yeah, you guys. That's another of Nudge's 'skills.' She just… knows what time it is, on demand.

"OK then," I said. "Let's go back to sleep. I'll be right back, I have to go to the bathroom to put on dry clothes and so on."

"TMI!" said Gazzy as he and the others settled down into various positions, scattered across the tent. I fumbled my way out and headed down the wet asphalt. When I came back, I saw a silhouette sitting on the picnic table. _What is it with bird kids sitting on the picnic table when I come back from the bath-house?_ I wondered. As I got closer, I saw that it was Iggy.

Uh-oh.


	16. You don't know me!

Disclaimer: I do not own Maximum Ride or any of the characters, original locations, or original conceptions therein

**Disclaimer: I do not own **_**Maximum**__**Ride**_** or any of the characters, original locations, or original conceptions therein.**

Iggy's head was bowed as I came towards him. His wings were dropping; I could see their ginger tips peeking out from underneath his dark green hoodie. His head snapped up as I came closed. "Max?"

I sat down next to him. "It's me."

"I'm sorry… about earlier."

"Why are you sorry, Igs? It's not like you did anything _bad_."

"Angel told me you were upset."

I didn't think now was the time to tell half-truths. "I was."

"It was because I… kissed you?"

'Not so much that as what it represented. I mean, I didn't know you liked me that way."

"I have, based on your voice, words, general face and body shape, personality, things I couldn't see. But today, I saw you for the first time. And you were beautiful."

This was kind of getting awkward.

"Are you OK, Iggy? Because this isn't like you, at all."

"I am not like me, at all, ever. You don't know me!" He suddenly switched moods, from remorseful to angry.

"What are you talking about?" My voice was starting to heat up.

"You don't acknowledge me as a senior member of the flock. I'm fifteen, like you and Fang. I'm perfectly capable of useful thought! Why is it? Because I'm blind and you always have to make adjustments for me? Because I hang out with the younger kids?" His voice matched mine in hissing anger.

"You never seemed to want to take any authority! You seemed to be perfectly content hanging out with the younger kids. You never said anything about wanting to help lead!"

"You don't think I _like_ sitting around and listening to you and Fang flirt and make plans, do you?"

"It would have been great if you had offered your help! There were plenty of situations you could have helped a lot in! But you _never said anything!_"

"Because I knew you would start yelling, like you are now!" He stood up.

"I'm yelling because you're being stupid!" I hissed, lowering my voice.

"Forget it. I'm done." He opened his wings, like he was going to take flight.

I stood up. "Where are you going?"

He shook out his wings. "To bed, so I can try to forget about you and wake up tomorrow and go back to acting like Iggy the fifteen-year-old babysitter!"

"Would you stop being so dramatic and just offer to help?"

"It won't be that easy, though, will it? You and Fang are so used to sharing your power between the two of you, you won't know how to split it three ways. And then I'll have to listen to your kissing noises."

"We don't… kiss in front of the flock! And besides, I asked you for your opinion on what to do about the Eraser."

"That's because _I was there_. I was a _witness_."

"Right, but you helped us figure out what to do. So there! We don't _keep _you from helping."

"You're yelling again."

I dropped my voice to a whisper. "People yell when they fight."

"Not always."

"Usually. And this, this is why I don't want a proper relationship, like a boyfriend. We're all, _the whole flock_, together at the same time, forever. And when my boyfriend and I fight, the whole flock will have to see, and they'll get involved, and everyone will go around being unhappy. And I can't let that happen to my babies," I added softly to the end.

"Well, then if you don't want to have a boyfriend, you can have one of those 'open relationships,' and you can have both me and Fang. I know you like Fang, and I think you like me, so you can have it both ways."

"But Iggy, that's the problem with the 'open relationship' thing. You can't have two partners at the same time. One will get jealous of the other, and it's impossible not to play favorites."

"Fine," said Iggy angrily. "Fine. Here. I _humbly_ offer my services to Maximum Ride, to help her and aid her in her leadership of the flocking band of merry mutants." His voice lightened some towards the end of his 'offer.'

"A simple 'would you like some help' would work just fine," I said in an equally light tone.

"Well, you don't seem like you need help right now, so I figured, you know, might as well try to make a joke."

"Okay…" I said.

Iggy leaned forward and kissed me again. "Let's just forget about fighting. You haven't said anything about not having an open relationship, you just said how horrible they're supposed to be."

I sighed. "I guess we'll give it a try," I said.

Iggy smiled. He cupped my face in one long, slender hand and gave me one last kiss. Then he stepped back and felt for the zipper of the tent. I followed him in and cured up in my little corner, wondering silently how I could ever get up the courage to tell him that as much as I liked him, I liked Fang better.


	17. Good morning!

**Disclaimer: I do not own **_**Maximum**__**Ride**_** or any of the characters, locations, or other original conceptions therein.**

I woke up to the bright morning light as Iggy, trying to reach the tent flap, stepped on me. "Crap!" he whispered. He jumped back and tripped over a pair of someone's shoes. Boots. Combat boots. Oops. My bad. His whole six-foot-one-inch frame came crashing down to the ground across Gazzy's lower legs. This sudden disturbance woke up Gazzy, who, um, created a disturbance of his own.

"Aargh!" said Iggy, jerking away. He pushed himself to his feet and dove for the tent flap. By this time, everyone else had woken up, even Nudge. Eager to escape the rancid air, we scrambled out and away.

Well, good morning to you, too.

As we recuperated, Iggy fried bacon and eggs, then followed those up with a semi-warm sort of apple cake thing he'd been baking overnight in the embers. This was just one of those times I wanted to jump up and hug him. Disregarding yesterday's events (and really early this morning), I did just that. His arm went around me and he hugged me back, oh-so-casually. Yeah, right.

I grabbed the stack of cups from Iggy, leaving him with the pan of hot milk. We ate (and drank) until we were so full we felt like we had eaten rocks. Or at least, I did. As my flock members slowly finished eating, I stood up. "Hey, guys!" I said cheerfully. "Guess what? We're going to go meet an Eraser today!"

I was met with gazes ranging from speechless (Nudge)(?!) to 'LET'S GO GET HIM!' (Gazzy).

"I thought they were all dead," Nudge finally managed.

"That's just the thing. This one's not, so we're going to find out why. But I hate to burst your bubble and say this, but I have to. We're not going to meet this mysterious EraserBoy until this afternoon. This morning, we'll go into L.A."

"OOH!" said Nudge, regaining her ability to talk. "Can we see the Walk of Stars thing and—"

"Possibly," I said. "We probably won't get to see everything we want to today, but that's okay because we can stay as long as we need to. We just have to find somewhere else to stay after a while."

"Ohmygosh," Nudge burbled. "Max, we _have_ to go to the Natural Science Museum. It's got dinosaur skeletons and…"

Not that looking _through_ something that once had internal organs and skin and stuff is weird or anything. Don't get me wrong, I'm not squeamish. It's just weird to think about.

"Max," called Fang softly. I looked up and went over to him. He had his laptop up and had magically summoned a map of LA.

"OK," I said, studying it carefully. "So I think we'll start out here, then follow this…"

Iggy cleared his throat.

_Oops_. "Hey, Igs. What do you think?"

Fang shot me a sideways glance as if to say, _What are you doing?_

Iggy came to sit down behind me on the picnic table. "I can't see," he said patiently.

Fang and I took turns reading out the places and their descriptions to him. He sat there, pondering.

"…and the Walk of Fame, which is a long piece of street with a bunch of stars with the names of famous people. There's shopping, food, and good entertainment from unknowns," I read. "I hope you memorized all of that, Iggy."

"The Farmers' Market sounds cool," he said. "Not the Grove thing, though."

"We should go to the Neiman Marcus Rotunda," I said with a wry smile. "We can see how much normal people spend on fashionable clothes and cute shoes."

Fang snorted.

"Then again, maybe not. I might get sick."

"So then, things we want to see… Nudge will definitely want to see the Walk of Fame. Is that seriously what it's called? Lame. And the Natural Science Museum thingy. Then the Farmers' Market. Oh, Hollywood, definitely."

"All that in one day?" asked Iggy, raising his eyebrows.

"We'll split it up," I decided. "Let's do the Walk of Fame thing today, then we'll come back and deal with EraserBoy, and then, if we have time and we aren't too tired, we'll go and see the Universal CityWalk, um, thing. It should be really pretty at night, like with the neon lights and everything."

Angel climbed into my lap. "Max, we're ready to leave."

"Already?" I asked. "It's only… Nudge, what time is it?"

"Nine sixteen," she said proudly.

"Okay." I lowered my voice. "We'll head into the woods and fly from there until we can land safely near where we're trying to get."

"Max, you should wear your grown-up outfit," said Nudge. "It'll help us get places."

"Max, what's a hooker?" asked Angel innocently. I saw Iggy stifle a laugh.

"Angel, sweetie, you shouldn't read people's minds like that. And a hooker… well, it doesn't matter right now."

Her forehead crinkled. "I don't get it," she said.

"It's okay," I said. "I'm glad you don't get it. I'm going to go change now, but I'm not going to wear _that_ outfit." I lifted her off my lap and went inside the tent. Thankfully, it had aired out by then. I pulled on the leggings, fuzzy hoodie-vest, and miniskirt, and went outside to let Fang change into the emo clothes.


	18. We ARE the freaks

**Disclaimer: I do not own **_**Maximum Ride**_** or any of the characters, unique locations, or original conceptions therein. Nor do I own the rights to any (real) celebrity mentioned in this chapter.**

We stood in the middle of the Walk of Fame, surrounded by rushing people, crying toddlers, shrieking teenagers, bored kids, harried parents, snuggling couples, freaks, and semi-celebrities. What am I talking about? We _were_ the freaks. The real ones, that is. Some of the other "freaks" were the kind of people who wore only black leather, others the kind who wore only white fur. I kind of liked watching them, and watching the reactions of the people around them as they passed.

Nudge was reading the names off the stars as we passed and telling us their profession. ("Okay, so this is Frank Sinatra. He was a singer, and he's realllllly famous, especially with old people…") ("Ohmygosh, this is Kevin Frederick! He's really, really, really hot. He doesn't really have that great a singing voice, but he's a great actor and did I mention he's really cute?") ("Lisa Mignon, she's a singer, and she's even foxier than Mary J. Blige!") ("Big Bird is on here?!") ("Carlos Santana, he's really good at the guitar.") ("Jackie Chan, now he is just amazing. I mean, how is he still alive and hasn't fallen doing one of his stunts?!") ("Godzilla?! He's not even real or alive!")

Even Angel's eyes were beginning to glaze over by the time we reached the end of the stars. We walked back the other way, this time looking at the vendors' stalls. There were things from typical "I Heart LA" T-shirts and neon sunglasses to custom airbrushed tattoos; "original recipe" sodas made by hand by indie shop owners to fresh ice cream.

I personally was looking forward to seeing the musicians on the street corner. They had just set up, and people were looking at them curiously as they passed. I think it was because they were dressed entirely in purple, and their instruments were all green, bright green. Neon green.

Along the way, we got some of the best snacks I've ever had. French fries? Killer. Brownies? Murderer. Cookies? Still nowhere near as good as Mom's.

We stood around watching the musicians on the corner for a while. They were pretty good, but not quite Taylor Twins quality. Their lyrics were kind of cool, reminiscent of Fang's poetry, and their voices weren't terribly off-key, but there was just something that didn't quite click. I tossed a five-dollar bill into the open guitar case anyway, mostly because of their cool instruments, and we left.

"That was awesome!" Nudge said. "Hey, it's 3:45. Aren't we supposed to be on our way by now?"

_Crap!_ "Yeah, thanks, Nudge. Let's go," I commanded my flock. We caught the bus out to a relatively secluded park, the same one we had come in to, and took off as stealthily as possible.

I was proud of my feathered companions. They flew pretty darn fast, for not having to run for their lives. Quickly, but not quickly enough for my tastes, we reached the little town just outside the campground. Seeing that no one was around to notice us, I motioned for my flock to perch on top of the bakery building. Gazzy, Nudge, and I fluttered across to the other side of the back alley to wait for EraserBoy.

At long last, the door opened. The Eraser, with a light jacket over his shoulder, came out. A faint voice trailed out the door after him. He stuck his head back in and said something muffled, then closed the door firmly and started to walk towards a pickup truck.

He was cut off by Gazzy, Nudge and me dropping down in front of him. We stood identically, arms crossed, weight on back leg, three bird kids on each side of the alley. The Eraser looked at us and sighed, putting his shoulders down. I saw his tail (his tail?!) droop. "I thought this might happen." He looked up at us and nodded politely. "I'm James."


	19. He can TALK!

**Disclaimer: I do not own **_**Maximum Ride**_** or any of the characters, unique locations, or original conceptions therein.**

**Claimer: I own James. He is the offspring of my slightly twisted mind.**

"He can talk," said Gazzy, his mouth dropping open. "I mean, he talks like a regular person and not all grunts and stuff!"

The corners of James's mouth twitched up. "Yeah, I've been known to talk intelligently."

"You have a tail? _And_ wings?" asked Angel. "He's nice, Max, don't worry," she added to me.

"You're the mind reader," said James. He looked directly at me. "And you're Max, the fearless leader."

"Yep, that's me," I said. "This is my flock." I went around and introduced them by name.

"This is my little pyro," I said. James nodded and came forward to shake his hand. When I added, "We call him the Gasman," James drew back, looking revolted. "Oh, don't be like that," I said. "We're all still breathing, aren't we?"

Moving on, I gestured to Nudge. "This is Nudge. She's our resident tech wizard and motormouth."

"Hey!" said Nudge. "That's not nice! But James? That's a cool name. It's Iggy's name. Do you seriously have a _tail_? Along with wings? How do you hide them both? Do you just go around wearing baggy clothes all the time? Cause that seems like it would get really annoying, if you work in a bakery. Do you actually bake the stuff?"

"Shh, honey," I said, gently covering her mouth.

James looked on for a moment, wide-eyed. "Um, yeah, I have a tail. Here." He turned around and lifted his shirt in the back. A cute Labrador tail fell from the folds of cloth. "I'm ninety-seven percent human, one and a half percent avian, one and a half percent canine. I was kind of engineered to be a little smarter than the usual lupine hybrids. Sometimes I wear baggy clothes, other times I wear UnderArmour. It kind of holds everything together and smoothes it out. Actually, yes, I bake sometimes. Not usually, but special-occasion cakes are my specialty. I mostly decorate wedding cakes. Anyways, on with the introductions?"

"Right," I said. _The guy talks almost as much as Nudge! And… is that a _lisp_ I hear? Is he gay?_ "The tall one is Iggy, my big pyro and my cook."

"A cook? Really?" James looked at Iggy curiously. "Entrées or desserts?"

"Mostly entrées," admitted Iggy, "but that's because we don't really get the chance to eat dessert, much less the tools to make it with."

"You're blind," said James flatly. "How do you cook?"

Iggy got an irritated look on his face. "I just… know. Plus I can hear and smell better than you can see."

Iggy, of course, couldn't see the look of awe he was receiving.

"Moving on," I said. "You know of Angel. She's my mind reader with superpowers."

James looked at me questioningly.

"She can talk to fish and breathe underwater. She once brought us a shark because… he wanted to play?"

Angel nodded. "He wasn't hungry, and he was sad when he had to leave."

James looked genuinely intrigued. He opened his mouth to reply, but Angel pointed to me. "Max has some questions for you."

I coughed. "Well, first I want to introduce Fang. He's my right-hand man- Fang?"

He appeared, crossing his arms, right next to the Eraser. James didn't move, which instantly raised him in my esteem.

"So," I said. "Why are you still alive?"

James laughed. "You don't sound very happy about it."

"I'm curious as to how you escaped."

"Escaped? Hah. Not on my own. His bomb," he said, pointing to Iggy, "blew open a hole in my side. I was left for dead. But I healed and went back to find news of what had happened since my 'death.' But by then, all other lupine hybrids had been terminated. Here's how I survived: They terminated us by ID number." He showed us a number tattooed on the back of his neck. "My squadron didn't like me very much, because I was smarter than they were and in a higher rank, so I had been reported as dead from the time of the attack, which means my ID number was recorded as already terminated. So they skipped over it when they were activating everyone's expiration date."

"They were mean," said Angel softly, her eyes intent on his face. "Your squad people. They really didn't like you."

"Well, I didn't like them, either."

"I'm glad you lived."

James looked startled, then he laughed. "I never thought anyone would say that. But then, you probably knew that, didn't you?" He paused. "It's getting dark. Would you like to come to my place?"

"How about you come to the campsite where we're staying tonight? It's easier that way. Less noticeable, you know?"

James's brow furrowed. "Okay…"

Angel sighed. "We promise not to have Iggy roast you over the fire as long as you don't try to hurt us, right, Max?"

James's eyebrows rose, like Iggy's when he gets surprised.

"I guess," I said. "As long as he doesn't try to hurt us or betray us or anything."

"Okay, then," she said with a smile.

I looked at Fang. He just looked back at me, emotionlessly. Finally, he shrugged and lifted off. "After you," I said to James. "Guests first."

He sighed and unbuttoned his button-down and quickly stripped off his UnderArmour shirt to free his wings. Then he put his button-down on backwards, buttons in the back, and rose into the air. I burst out laughing. "That's the funniest way I've seen anyone take off in a long time."

Iggy, Nudge, Gazzy, Angel, and I followed James and Fang up into the sky. Nudge, Gazzy and Angel were all trying to describe James to Iggy at the same time. Iggy finally held up his hand and then held it out to Angel. "Will you?"

She took his hand and concentrated. Iggy's eyebrows did their shooting up thing again. "Wow," he whispered. "He's… not what I thought an Eraser would look like."


	20. James

**Disclaimer: I do not own **_**Maximum Ride**_** or any of the characters, locations, or original conceptions therein.**

**Claimer: I own James. He is the offspring of my increasingly twisted mind.**

We touched down in the woods near the campground and hiked in toward the tent. Nudge and James were talking up a storm about the most random stuff ever, like… well, here. I'll give you an exclusive sneak preview of the Nudge channel, with guest speaker James the Eraser.

"Okay, so we were in the Mad Tea Party teacups, right? Me, Angel, and Gazzy, I mean. Max, Fang, and Iggy didn't want to go, and I don't think they would have fit at all, so it was just the three of us, and the teacup sort of feels like it can go either way, you know, spinning. That's one of my powers, I can tell stuff about machines and stuff made of metal. I don't know, maybe there was something wrong with the machinery. So Angel and Gazzy start fighting about which way to turn it, and then the machine sort of says that it wants to go this way, which is the opposite of what Angel and Gazzy have just agreed on. So then it's me and the teacup against Angel and Gazzy, except of course they don't know what the teacup really wants…"

There you are, ladies and gentlemen and kids, whoever's reading this. That concludes your sneak preview of the Nudge channel. Please tune back in… in a few seconds.

James was actually listening and inserting a few comments here and there. Finally Nudge paused at something he said and he kicked in his own monologue. Nudge watched in awe. He talked, if it was possible, even longer than Nudge. Or at least, he would have if we hadn't come to our campsite. We sat down at the picnic table like a firing squad, my flock on one side and James the sort-of Eraser on the other side.

"So," I said. "How old are you?"

"Well," he said. He fidgeted. "I've existed for about five years. But my mentality was advanced by the scientists so that I'm somewhere between fourteen and eighteen."

"You're male, right?"

He blushed. "Yeah."

"What are you made of, exactly?" I was kind of curious. I mean, I think we all have different bird types in us. But we've never had that theory confirmed or anything. I mean, we're on the run, and we can't exactly talk politely with the mad scientists who… altered us.

"They told me I'm part Golden Labrador Retriever and part golden eagle. I'm kind of a mix of northern Europeans, or so I'm told. I never met my parents."

"They actually told you?" I leaned forward. "Do you know anything about us?"

"Um, I know a lot about you guys," he said awkwardly. "Probably more than you do."

"Tell all," I commanded.

"All?"

"Lots," I amended. Knowing James, if he told all, we would still be sitting here next week.

"Okay." He took a deep breath, steadying himself.

"It's okay," said Angel gently. "Max isn't going to be mean."

I looked quickly down my bird-kid lineup. Gazzy looked curious, Nudge was still kind of stunned-looking. Fang was as dark as ever, but he looked kind of wary and fierce and cautious and dangerous, all at the same time. Iggy was listening attentively, his face turned towards James.

"Okay. So. Where do you want me to start?"

"What are we?"

"You're human-avian hybrids," he said, looking surprised. "I thought you'd know that."

"We do know that. I mean, the avian part."

"Oh. Right. Well, you're a falcon, a peregrine falcon. Angel is a dove, Gazzy is a screech owl, Nudge is a quail, Fang is a raven, and Iggy… is a bat."

"A bat?!"

"No, I'm just kidding. You're a Great White Heron."

"I was right!" said Angel excitedly. "Iggy is a big white seabird!"

James smiled nervously. "So that sort of explains coloring and Max's super speed. Bats aren't birds, Iggy, so you don't have to worry. What else do you want to know?"

"Parents," said Fang. I half-turned in surprise.

"You all have parents," he said. "But I would think that you don't have to worry about them, since, this is going to sound so cheesy, you have each other."

"Do Erasers have parents?" asked Angel suddenly.

James made a questioning face. "I don't know. I've never really thought about it. They don't talk about it, at all, ever, or anything intelligent at all, so…. They think mostly about food, and killing. Sorry. Put that all in past tense. They're gone now."

"So tell us more random stuff about yourself," I said, trying to lighten the mood.

"Like what? I live, eat, sleep, breathe, try to stay undercover, get up every morning and go to work. Decorate cakes to order all day. Think about the people the cakes are going to. Deliver the cakes, sometimes stay for the event. Go home, sleep. So on. Actually, I really like the whole thing, especially when I meet people and find out what they want in a cake. Like, the couples for their engagement parties or whatever, it's kind of funny. Oh, and the wedding cakes. Man, I love those. It's like, I'm making this major symbol of a major event in their life. They're turning the whole thing over to me, and it's like, _whoa!_"

"Do you ever cook anything else?" asked Iggy. "I mean, do you eat cake at home, too?"

"What?" James let out a laugh. "No, I cook normal food too. I'm kind of good at Chinese and Native American food."

"You'll have to show me sometime."

"Okay, I'd love to. Are you good with, like, American food?"

"I cook whatever I can get my hands on," Iggy said with a slight, teasing frown on my direction. "There's usually not a lot to cook. Lately, it's been pretty cool. I mean, we went to get proper food, so there is something to make into a decent meal. You know, instead of hot dogs or toasted Pop-Tarts every night."

"Can you guys make something for dinner tonight?" I asked. "Or should we go back into L.A.?"

James stood up. "L.A. at night is a sight to see indeed. May I show you around?"

I looked around at my flock. Iggy looked excited, Nudge looked stunned. Gazzy and Angel just looked hungry. Fang and I looked at each other for a long minute. Finally he shrugged, deferring to me. "Okay," I said. "Let's do this. Where are you going to take us?"

James grinned. "You'll see. I think you'll like it. It's on me, by the way."

"What? You don't have to do this," I said. _What is this? Some new trap? Are the Erasers really not dead?_

"Don't worry, Max," said Angel. "It's not a trap, and James isn't going to kill us. He just wants us to be happy."

James laughed. "Something like that. Let's go, shall we?"

"…Okay…" I agreed warily.

He led us into the dark woods. My heart was pounding with adrenaline and my muscles were tight, ready for an attack. Ahead of me, I could see Fang, similarly tense.

But it was for nothing. James turned to face us, flashed a big grin, and took off. We followed him into the sky, heading toward the light. Okay, lights. Plural. Major plural. There were ten thousand bajillion of 'em, give or take a couple.


	21. The Cakemeister

**Disclaimer: I do not own **_**Maximum Ride**_** or any of the characters, locations, or original conceptions therein. I do not own any (real) brand names, restaurants, etc.**

**A/N: I only truly own my brain and my guitar, and a few other things. And my guitar frequently goes out of tune, and my brain is losing its potency with frightening rapidity, so my apologies for anything that doesn't make sense. Or everything, if it so goes.**

**Claimer: I own James.**

"Here we are," announced James. I looked up and my jaw dropped. This was, like, a really nice 'casual' place. I mean, judging from the number of paparazzi outside, a lot of well-bred, luxurious celebrities liked it. So…

We entered. "Oh, hello, James," said a well-dressed, well-groomed woman. "Nice to see you without your cakes. Would you like your regular table, or somewhere more private, or somewhere more public?"

James turned to us. We just looked back at him.

"Oh, are they with you?" she asked. She gave us a friendly smile. _What is it with these cheerful, smiley people?_

"Yeah," he said. "They're good friends of mine, passing through. I figured I'd give them a taste of L.A.'s best." He winked.

"How about a big table, then?" she asked. "There's one really good one left, just right for Oxville's best."

"Is he flirting, or just flattering?" whispered Fang.

"Flattering, I think. I think he's gay."

"Really?"

"Cakes?"

"Point conceded."

We followed him and the hostess to a table near a pillar. It was in perfect view of the rest of the restaurant. Nudge zoomed around to the farthest side, so she could see everything going on. James followed her. Apparently he liked talking to her and listening to her, and seeing people. Iggy sat down on his other side, guided by Gazzy, who sat down next to him. The hostess handed us a stack of cute menus.

"Usual rules, guys," I reminded them. Nudge started explaining to James just what this "usual rules" concept meant.

Fang turned to me, barely taking his eyes off the demi-Eraser. "Do you trust him?" he whispered

"Angel does."

"Angel's seven!"

"I don't have to remind you that Angel can read minds!"

"Maybe he's hiding something from us. From her."

"He seems nice enough, and smart, too. Most of the others are –were- all into grunting and slashing with their claws."

"You're not saying that because he's pretty," said Fang, as a question.

"Of course not!" I said out loud. Lowering my voice, I added, "He's gay."

"Why do you keep saying that?"

"He decorates freakin' _cakes_! And did you hear his lisp?"

"What does a lisp have to do with anything?"

I sighed and shook my head. "Never mind."

Fang caught me as I turned away. "You're going to let him come with us, aren't you?"

"So what if I am?"

"He's an Eraser!"

"Yeah, and he's _alone_, and there's _six_ of us."

"Whatever. You're the leader."

"They've all been terminated, and he's all alone!"

"He seemed to be getting along just fine before we came along."

"Yeah, but now that he's met us, he's going to want companionship. Besides, Nudge and Iggy already worship him."

"Yeah, but they're not supposed to worship him. They're supposed to worship _you_, Max, because you're the one who's saved the world."

I looked down in frustration. Saving the world. That. It kept following me around. Thankfully, once most of everything was saved, the Voice had disappeared.

Fang put his arm around me unexpectedly and cradled me to his chest for a brief second before letting go.

"I trust you, Max. Though sometimes I wonder why."

"Oh," I said, my snappy comebacks making a quick return. "Maybe because… I've saved your butt so many times?"

He snorted. "As I recall, it's pretty close."

I shoved him playfully. "So it's settled, then? EraserBoy is allowed to come with us."

"If he wants."

I rolled my eyes and turned to the waitress, who had conveniently appeared at my side. I ordered, my flock ordered, James ordered. It looked like a real party was in store.

"Ohmygosh!" squealed Nudge. She pointed at a tall redhead leaving the restaurant, with a trail of worshippers following. "It's… it's… Laura."

"Laura… Laura who?"

"Laura, just Laura, that's all she goes by, you know, sort of like Madonna. Laura is a singer. She's got _soul_."

She went on talking about Laura until our food arrived. Then there was no more talking. I mean, we'd been well fed over the past few days, but still, there's something about living with too little food for too many years that, you know, kind of engrains the instinct to EAT.

So dinner passed with James, Nudge, and Iggy doing most of the talking. Fang and I watched James carefully, but he seemed perfectly lie-free. I asked Angel to do a little probing around in his mind. She was surprised that I was actually letting her read his mind, but did my royal bidding nonetheless.

Her little blonde eyebrows rose in surprise a few times. Then she turned to me and whispered, "He likes _guys_!"

"That's okay," I reassured her.

"He doesn't want to kill us or hurt us. He's surprised he ran into us. He kind of wants to come with us, but he doesn't want to ask."

"Okay," I whispered. "We'll talk about it more later."

James looked up from his conversation with Nudge (they totally redefined the word 'conversation') and grinned at us. "Dessert?"

There was a chorus of assent from my bird kids. I smiled back at him encouragingly. He flagged down the waitress, who was also, apparently, a good friend of his, and leaned over to whisper something into her ear.

"See?" growled Fang into my ear. "He has friends here."

"This argument is _so_ over," I said. Which it was. Because, a few seconds later, the waitress came in with a big cake, a _whole_ cake, a whole, _really pretty_ cake.

"Whoa," said Gazzy.

Iggy looked irritated. Nudge started describing it to him. The waitress handed James a knife and left, with a Botoxed smile at all of us.

"I made this," said James with a little, embarrassed smile. "The bakery I work at supplies this restaurant with baked goods and desserts." He expertly dissected the cake and separated it onto seven plates.

It was then that I heard the whispers all around us. _"That's James and his new boyfriend and his boyfriend's family."_

"_That's James and his long-lost sisters and brothers."_

"_That's James and his girlfriend."_

"_James doesn't have a girlfriend."_

"_He does now."_

"_He's gay!"_

"_That's James, the top pastry artist in L.A."_

I raised my eyebrows at the last one. "So, James, m'dear. You're the top pastry artist in L.A.?"

He kept his eyes down. "About that," he said. "Well."

"Way to keep a low profile."

"I tried," he said. "But people liked the cakes."

"I do, too," said Iggy.

My jaw dropped. I had _never_ heard Iggy compliment someone's cooking, other than my mom and her cookies. Then again… we'd never really _had_ anybody else's good cooking.

We devoured the cake, happily and sadly. Happily because it was sooo good, but sadly because it was sooo pretty.

After the cake, we made our way outside, everyone parting in awe before James, the Cakemeister. We said fond goodbyes outside and went our separate ways forever.

Not so.

We made plans to meet up with James again (Iggy's idea) outside the Neiman-Marcus rotunda (Nudge's idea) to scout out somewhere for lunch (my idea) because he had his own work hours (his idea). After lunch, we might hang out for the rest of the day or get in a quick fistfight and depart, all parties stiffed a good time.

Then we parted ways, the flock headed off for a deep, well-earned sleep, and James off to sleep or to work. He had left that kind of ambiguous.

Nighty-night.


End file.
